556TH BOMBARDMENT SQUADRON, MEDIUM

Mah Ideel
Martin B-26C-45-MO Marauder
Sn: 42-107835
Squadron Code: FW-A

        Flight commander Captain Mansel R. Campbell was at the controls of Mah Ideel on August 4, 1944, during an attempt to take out a railroad bridge across the Aure River at St. Remi-sur-Aure. Clouds obscured the target and, after four runs on target, the mission was abandoned. As the formation started for home a slight navigation error took it over flak installations and it was severely shot up. Mah Ideel, in the No. 4 position, was one of the three that received flak damage. With the left engine shot out and a hydraulic system causing the right engine to heat up, Capt. Campbell opted for an emergency landing at one of the fighter strips in Normandy. Unable to get its landing gear down, the aircraft was brought in for a belly-landing at B-8, a Canadian airstrip. The ship was a "washout."

        2nd. Lt. Robert B. Morson, who had come along to add an Oak Leaf Cluster to his recently earned Air medal and was acting as navigator, was seriously injured by flak and died at 8:00 am the next morning. Capt. Campbell was also hit by flak but it was not serious. Copilot 1st. Lt. Burton J. Anderson was injured in the landing and was taken to the 20th General Hospital at Bayeux. The rest of the crew was bruised but unhurt. The next day the crew made its way to airfield B-14 and were brought home by Avro Anderson. The crew on this mission: