William Mayo served in the U.S. Army Air Corps, as a Second Lieutenant with the 418th Bomber Squadron, 100th Bomber Group (The Bloody Hundredth), Heavy, 8th Air Force, during World War II. A Pilot, he died on December 31, 1944 when his B-17 Flying Fortress "Ain't Miss Behavin II" went missing off the coast of Germany. The crew had left from Thorpe Abbots Field in Suffolk, England on their sixth mission, a bombing raid over Hamburg with an oil refinery as their target. They were jumped from behind by German fighters, and Mayo, the pilot, placed a call at 12:25 p.m. stating he'd fallen out of formation and was at 13,000 feet over Bremerhaven with two engines out, and taking heavy flak. Last spotted over Spiekeroog Island, East Frisian Islands, Germany. Theirs was one of twelve bombers lost on the Hamburg raid.
