An Australian soldier poses with Maid in the USA, parked at Fenton in Northern Australia.

The 380th Group came to call themsleves 'The Flying Circus', and whilst in Australia flew primarily against northern targets such as Balikpapan and Borneo. Although a U.S unit, the 380th was usually subject to command by the RAAF. Circus Liberators were however deployed to New Guinea from their Northern Territory bases on several occasions, distracting them from their mainstay duties.

Attacks by enemy fighters took their toll on Circus bombers but not without the occasional glimpse of humor. On 16th August 1943 a two-ship reconnaissance was despatched to Balikpapan to photograph damage from a previous raid. One of them was Miss Giving flown by Captain Jack Banks. Aboard also as an observer for the pitch-dark 0200 hours departure was Intelligence officer, 2/Lt Tom Howard. Howard had never flown a combat mission before and thought it time to see one first hand. Dawn transformed the star-studded night sky into deep azure blue, laced with isolated fluffy clouds. Miss Giving skirted Timor at low altitude to avoid detection, then climbed. The weather stayed like this all the way to Borneo, and the crew could not believe their luck. Bank's accurate navigation then put their blue-ribbon cruise right on target, so they dropped their bombs, took photos and wheeled around for home.

However, nose gunner S/Sgt Dick Fern's voice urged the crew to look below where eight fighters were scrambling from Manggar airdrome. Banks climbed Miss Giving to 11,000 feet before "here they come" rang over the interphone. Zeros commenced abeam attacks from left and right, so Banks put Miss Giving's nose down to gather extra speed, and she slowly settled lower and lower. It was clear that the fighters were not leading their shots sufficiently, but then one unfortunately figured out the problem. The bomber's fuselage shuddered with the impact of cannon fire, and number three engine stopped dead. Banks and his co-pilot crouched down on the floor of the cockpit during the attack, then laughed about it later, their futile reaction was just that and offered no additional protection whatsoever.

The battle continued thus in well-ordered fashion, and Banks put in his piece with a pep talk. In his characteristic high-pitched voice he urged the gunners to splash the attackers otherwise they would be faced with a long swim home. A calm voice on the intercom responded immediately that Miss Giving had already downed two - in fact the crew had seen both fighters hit the water. Tom Howard, the passenger along to experience combat, was now put to use. In between hauling ammunition between the waist guns, he was able to stick his head out of the open waist hatches as the Zeros completed each pass to determine whether they had taken hits. The attack lasted an hour like this before the Zeros finally broke off. Between Miss Giving and safety now lay Timor with another fighter base however, so Banks made major diversions through cloud to avoid being seen. By now Miss Giving was seriously low on fuel. Banks told the crew to put on parachutes, and if the bomb-bay doors opened they were to jump. Banks nevertheless put her down on Fenton with three good engines and a steady eye on dubious fuel gauges. The excited but relieved flyers left debriefing shortly afterwards, ready to tell their account to anyone who would listen (a chronology from Aerothentic's The Forgotten Fifth).

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