Crew #7

Crew of 7th Aircraft - Plane # 40-2261 - "The Ruptured Duck" - Crew from 95th Squadron, 17th Group - (Crash landing - China coast)

Ted Lawson and his crew successfully dropped their bombs on industrial factories in downtown Tokyo before withdrawing to fly on to China. Lawson was forced to ditch in the water just off the coastline and was severely injured in the crash. Only the aircraft gunner was uninjured and Lt. McClure had to remain hospitalized until 1943. The injuries of the crew were treated by Doc White who got himself included in the raid as a gunner on the 15th aircraft. He had to amputate Lawson's leg in the field before either man could join the raiders at Chuhsien. Upon his return home Lawson authored the first story of the raid in the book Thirty Seconds over Tokyo.

No.7 bomber fell into the sea under the jurisdiction of Sanmen County, Zhejiang Province. Local villagers took the five US crew to Haiyou Town to have their wounds simply dressed. Four of the five, who were seriously wounded, were rushed in sedan chairs to the Linhai Enze Medical Bureau, where better medical facilities were available. Chen Shenyan, a medical doctor, and US military medical doctor Lt. Thomas R. White, who rushed there when told the news, succeeded in performing a limb amputation on Ted W. Lawson. Two British nuns were invited to be his interpreters and cook Western food for him. Dr. Chen Shenyan then escorted the four other US wounded crewmen to Guilin in Guangxi.

Please read this lively account of the Ruptured Duck and the "Lucky" Crew #7:
The Ruptured Duck.pdf

Pilot Lt. T.W. Lawson
Co-Pilot Lt. D. Davenport
Navigator Lt. C.L. McClure
Bombardier Lt. R.S. Clever
Engineer Gunner Sgt. D.J. Thatcher