Captain John B. Thompson, pilot of a P-47 Thunderbolt, took off with 24 other planes at 0043 on a bombing mission over German artillery positions in the Sourdeval area. Once over their target at 1010 each plane dive bombs from 2000m. However, Thompson’s engine is hit, causing him to request an early return with his wingman. On their way back, Thompson fights to gain altitude with little success. Once over friendly lines, the plane starts decelerating and losing altitude fairly quickly. At 900m Thompson tells his wingman he’s going to jump. While he bailed out successfully, he opened his parachute too soon, causing it to snag in the plane’s horizontal stabilizer. After a furious struggle he managed to free the parachute but entangled his feet in the latter’s ropes in the process. He plunged to the ground headfirst and died on impact.