Anyone with information on the artist or on this B25 and its crew is asked to make contact. 8 Ball is known to have been flown on 30th September 1943 by Lt Eugene M Messick Jr to Benevento, Italy when it was hit by a flak shell which passed through the left wing. The damaged plane was successfully nursed back to a fighter field at Seretella. "I found I was still able to trim the ship by use of the trim tabs," reported Messick. "It was a little shaky but it still flew... I headed for land and made an emergency landing on a fighter field."