This was a night incendiary mission involving 30 planes from the 6th Bomb Group:
Third Blitz target was Osaka. Twenty-nine planes reached the target and bombed successfully, using radar. One plane was lost on takeoff when No. 3552, 40th Squadron, crashed and burned. Lt Steel and the entire crew escaped from the flaming plane with only minor burns. Sgt Charles R. Albert and Sgt Charles S. Lyezko, returned to the burning airplane, believing the tail gunner was trapped inside. They searched the entire rear compartment but the gunner had already escaped. For this act of heroism, both men were awarded the Soldier’s Medal in May On the 27 March this crew failed to return from a mining mission over Shimonoseki Straits and all listed as missing-in-action.
[Pirate’s Log, p. 33]