The airplane was a B-24H, tail number 42-52292. The tail number indicates that the plane was built in the Ford factory in Willow Run, Michigan during 1942. The crew named the aircraft Boojum at Milton Halbetstadt's suggestion, from the Lewis Carrol story Hunting of the Snark . Anyone, in the Carrol story, who looked upon the mythical monster Boojum evaporated.
The members of this crew were separated on April 3, 1944 during group mission #25 to Budapest, Hungary. The plane took a flak hit in the nose which severely injured the navigator and took out engine #2. The plane lost altitude until six members of the crew had bailed out over Mostar, Yugoslavia. After the sixth man jumped, the plane started gaining altitude and was able to limp back to Italy. The six crewmen who bailed out were captured and placed in POW camps in Germany. Four crewmen were able to stay on the plane and complete their assigned number of missions. The entire crew made it home after the war, with the exception of Reinaldo C. Garza who was killed in action on a mission with another crew.
