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Fred was ordered to bail out, along with five other crewmen, during Group Mission #25 on April 3, 1944. The target was the marshalling yards in Budapest, Hungary. Fred said they were hit by flak over Yugoslavia and the pilot ordered the crew to bail out. He was the first to bail out. He was subsequently captured by the Germans and was a POW for 13 months. More on the prison camps later.
Frederick Abner remembered that after he jumped, he dropped toward a farmer's field. He was unable to control the parachute and landed hard on a stone fence hurting his back. Fred walked up to the farmer to ask him for directions to the coast, since reaching the coast would increase the probability of rescue. Just as he was trying to communicate with the farmer, a German patrol arrived and captured him.