Richard Ryan served as a gunneron B-24 “Death Dealer (42-40611).
On August 13, 1943, B-24 “Death Dealer” (42-40611) 409th Bomber Squadron, of the 93rd Bomber Group was on a bombing mission from Benghazi, Libya to bomb a target at the Weiner-Neustadt Aircraft factories in Austria. The plane sustained serve flak damage and lost an engine near the target and diverted to Switzerland. The plan successfully made a belly landing near Wil, Switzerland and the crew destroyed the plane. The crew was interned in neutral Switzerland internment camps for foreign belligerents. This was the first US Plane of many to come down on Swiss soil. While the 93rd Bomber Group normally was based out of England (Station 102- , in late June 1943, it was transferred to Northern Africa to support the 9th and 12th Air Force “Operation Tidal Wave” – the bombing of the Ploesti, Romania oilfields. “Death Dealer” participated in the famous mission on August 1, 1943.