Copilot of the B-24 “King Size, 42-50612, which took off from Hethel Airbase in England on a mission to bomb an industrial zone in Wahlen-Kall, Germany. After successfully dropping their bombs, the King Size was attacked by German fighters and went into a spin and started burning. This caused them to fall behind their formation, and they were attacked again and crashed. Of the crew of nine, only two survived. O'Rourke went down with the plane and perished in the crash.