. >> august 1st, 1943, up before sun rise, sternfeld and butler readied themselves for the bloodiestission they'd ever fly. >> we went to a rather short believing. i can remember our group commander saying now, if anybody doesn't want to go, don't go. nobody declined. >> we took off. one airplane apparently lost an engine right after takeoff. he started to lose a lot of attitude and in doing so he hit a concrete telephone pole and went in and splattered the whole airplane all over the desert. there were a couple of survivors but all the rest of them perished. >> we joined up in the overall formation. flying out across the mediterranean until we saw one of the airplanes up ahead of us in a spin and go down. this is the second airplane we had seen go in. >> two planes down and they weren't past the mediterranean yet. >> as the formation which had already lost now a number of airplanes approached one of the lead arngt veered off in the wrong direction. >> the ip was the point where the planes were supposed to make their final turn in the direction of their target. but before they reach