on this mission to berlin the 457th put up eighteen planes led by capt. fred spencer. the target was the v.k.f. ball bearing works. as they approached the city of magdeberg they met vigorous fighter opposition, mainly me-109's and me-210's. two crews were lost during this encounter. lt eugene whelen's plane, flying in the high box, was rammed by an me-109 fighter and his aircraft exploded and fell into the low box where it crashed into the plane of lt roy e. graves. only one of the graves crew survived. five additional planes had major damage from flak over berlin. the eighth air force lost sixty nine planes on this day.

the crew was as follows:
     plane s/n 42-31595     

pilot		lt eugene h whelan	kia
copilot		james r. cauley	kia
navigator		lt george s. mcpeake, jr.	kia
bombardier		lt robert j. kuncl	kia
aircraft engineer		sgt robert h. vaughn	kia
radio operator		sgt jerome j. hartings	kia
left waist gunner		sgt j. d. bartoe	kia
right waist gunner		sgt john c mcvey	kia
ball turret gunner		virgil l french	kia
tail gunner		alphus maddox	kia