12th BG B-25 Crash Landing at El Djem, Tunisia on 5 April 1943

[Edward]

Monday, 5 April 1943
81st BS / 12th BG
B-25C hit by flak force-landed near El Djem [Tunisia]
1/Lt H.M. McClendon and crew rescued

A History of the Mediterranean Air War Volume Three - page 445

This loss is covered in great detail over seven pages in the diary of flight surgeon Lt. John A. Woodworth of the 33rd Fighter Group who was flying as an observer in the Mitchell.

The name of the B-25 was "Sarah the Sand Blower" and they were attacked by Me-109s after being hit by flak.

"[Co-Pilot] Sexton took a flare gun and used it like a hammer to enlarge the flak hole in the canopy above his head. Then he inserted a Very flare in the gun and fired it through the hole. . . . The astral dome over my head and the binnacle, three feet back of where I sat, were smashed to pieces, possibly by a bullet from one of the Me-109s."

The Occasion Fleeting: The Story of the 33rd Fighter Group in World War II as Told in the Diary of the Group Surgeon
(Appaquag Valley Press 1997)
by Major John A. Woodworth

Most books by flight surgeons have interesting content.