The C-47 took off at 12:40 hours on a glider tow mission towing a Waco CG-4A. The objective was to tow the glider to Landing Zone W, located north of Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Over Breda at 16:00 the flight ran into an intense concentration of light flak and the left engine was hit and began trailing smoke. The pilot continued to the LZ and released the glider at 16:15. While returning to the U.K., about 22 miles from the Dutch coast the left engine went out. The left prop was feathered, but it immediately unfeathered. By this time the aircraft was filling up with smoke and the radio operator caught sight of flames under the floor. The pilot nosed the plane down at 220 mph indicated airspeed from 4000’ ft indicated altitude, turned into the wind and started to level at 1000 feet. The plane was brought in a tail low attitude and was ditched at 16:52 hours. The crew escaped and deployed a dinghy from which they were rescued after about 15 minutes.