Air Echelon
Back L-R: Melvin E. Waggoner (P), Gerald Kogelschatz, Clarence E. Knopf (B) (see story), Raymond L. Becker
Front L-R: Roy L. Firestone (E) (more), Richard E. Mrugacz, Robert W. Martin, Harold T. Igoe, Charles E. McComas
Back L-R: Owens, Voss, Hilton
Front L-R: Pingel, Jacobsen, Clough, Nick, Ford, Dawson.
Standing L-R: Hilton, Burney, Owens, Voss
Squatting L-R: Nick, Jacobsen, Dawson, Pingel, Clough, Anderson
Voss Crew at Davis Monthan
Standing L-R: Anderson, Clough, Pingel, Dawson, Jacobsen, Nicks
Squatting L-R: Owens, Burney, Hilton
David Newton Clough, with the 745th on the left, and at his retirement from the Air Force on the right.
Courtesy of Tom Sheehan
Standing L-R: S/Sgt. Tipsword
(BTG); 1st Lt. McKay (N); Capt. Fogler (P); 1st
Lt. Friday (CP); 1st Lt. Lamorgia (N), (old Navigator, now
S-2 Officer); T/Sgt. Sheehan (RO)
Kneeling L-R: S/Sgt. Peters (E); S/Sgt. Shockley TTG);
Capt. Johnson (B); S/Sgt. Selle (NTG); S/Sgt. Saulsberry (TG)
Flight and ground crew of the "Phoney Express II"
Flight crew of the "Phoney Express II"
Doug Richard's crew and the "Purple Shaft"
The crew of "The Baby" (below), in front of another ship, "The Piece-Maker"
Sgt Joe Neiss with his "Phoney Express, II" art work
Thomas W. Markham
Back: Butler, Tom Briegel, Rudd, Markham Front: Pete Flanick, John Gates, James Brunson, Benny Szewizyk, William Campbell, Mark Beland
Sgt. Joe Niess
The Cissna Crew
Front row L-R: 1st Lt. Ratliff (N); Capt. Cissna (P) (then squadron CO); Lt. Cerniway (CP) (then pilot); Lt. Crowel (B)
Back row L-R: C. Stanley Strickland (E); Shaynaik (RO); Turnan (TG); Morom (TTG); Smith (BTG); Cummings (NG)
Watkins crew
Back row L-R: Lt. Dan Sutherland (N); Lt. William Lenz (CP); Lt. Howard Watkins (P); James Mayfield (B)
Lt. Howard Watkins (P)
Lt. William Lenz (CP)
Lt. Dan Sutherland (N)
James Mayfield (B)
Hank Lee (TG)
Ken Martindale(TTG
Keith Ritter (WG)
Richard Snodgrass (BTG)
John Torrance (NG)
Frank Woodward (WG)
Capt. Townsend's crew in front of "Towney's Tavern"
Capt. John Townsend (P)
2nd Lt. Edwin Weeb
2nd Lt. Herbert Lindberg
S/Sgt. Richard Borland
S/Sgt. Arthur Crow
S/Sgt. Glenn Duncan
S/Sgt. Louis Feverstein
S/Sgt. Gordon Graham
T/Sgt. Leslie Kensinger
S/Sgt Douglas Marston
Robert Gillman Crew, Fifteenth Air Force, 745th Bomb Squadron, 456th Bomb Group
Back row L-R: 2nd Lt. Robert J. Gillman, Jr. (P); 2nd Lt. Thomas E. Colley (CP); 2nd Lt. Carl S. Hey (N); 2nd Lt. Carl J. Manske (B)
Front row L-R: S/Sgt. Willis J.
W. Hildy (RO/G); S/Sgt. Clarence C. Ryder (E/G); S/Sgt. Edwin J. Caley
(TTG); S/Sgt. Charles E. Daugherty (BTG); Sgt. Ross W. Dye (TG); Sgt.
Theodore J. Pesch (NG)
The quote below is a short segment from Bob Gillman's memoirs, entitled
"Memories of War and Peace." This segment comes from August 26, 1944.
"We flew a ship today called the "PHONEY EXPRESS II." Since our new plane was taken from us, we flew anything available. This ship flew well and seemed lighter on the controls - just what we needed. Went to the Squadron CO and requested that we be assigned this aircraft as often as possible. He agreed to look into it."
Crew 13
Back row L-R: Lt. Jim Cleary; Lt. Paul Marler; Lt. Arthur Crow; Lt. Robert Millette
Front row L-R: Sgt. George Liddle; Sgt. Harold Wright; Sgt. Joe Foti; Sgt. Joe Niess; Sgt. Tom Raliegh; Sgt. Frank PuFont
John Bello with crew and "Miss Laid". Second from left in the back row is Milton D. Waite.
Merill crew that flew in "The Joker"
Back row L-R: Lloyd Merill (P); Mike Demio (CP); Al Racitti (N); Bob Rosser (B)
Front row L-R: Bob Martin (E/WG); Bob Anderson (WG); Walter Lent (RO/G); Earl Maurer (BTG); Sigmund Lekan (TTG); Calvin Utterback (NG)
Another crew of "The Joker" consisted of Robert Mace (P); Walter Gruber (CP); Albert Degenhart (N); Theodore Strater (B); James Williams (E); James Hudson (TTG); James Chesnutt (BTG); Murphy Roberts (WG); Larry Fergus (WG).
Mace and Williams originally painted the "Joker" on this particular ship, and flew all but one mission on it.
Courtesy of Ray Miltimore
John Gabriel Crew:
Front row L-R: S/Sgt. Ralph Simpson (TG); T/Sgt. Glen Midboe (E); S/Sgt. Charles Moller (BTG); T/Sgt. Ed Zivkovich (TTG); S/Sgt. Robert Hinckley (RO); S/Sgt. Gene Cronin (BG)
Back row L-R: Capt. John Gabriel (P); F/O Sal D'Amoto (CP); 2nd Lt. James Nugent (N); 2nd Lt. Ray Miltmore (B).
This crew was shot down in "Flak Happy", No. 42-78328 (MACR 10033) on 2 Dec 1944. The co-pilot was dead when he hit the ground - his chute never opened. The story of this mission is in the 456th history book under 12 Dec 1944.
The "LUCKY 'LEVEN"
S/Sgt. James A. Rose is in the center of the bottom row - who are the others? Can you help? What little is known is that the ship was in the 745th for a time. They were assigned 2/24/44 and at least the Pilot and Co-pilot were transferred to the 5th (Wing or Group), possibly taking the ship with them. Several of the others are current members - but who is where in the photo?
Beaver Crew
Front row L-R: 2nd Lt. George P. Sampson Jr. (B); 2nd Lt. Commodore E. Beaver (P); 2nd Lt. John A. McNeely (CP); Lt. Col. Edward H. Wardheim (N).
Back row L-R: Sgt. Jesse C. Blair (RO); S/Sgt. Thomas J. Duffy (E); Cpl. Edward T. Wolinsky (TTG); Constantine (Charles) A. Kiritsy (NG); Sgt. Donald G. Revoldt (BTG); Sgt. Charles Mazzola (TG); Sgt. Anthony Flack (TTG)
"FORTHABIRDS"
2nd Lt. James W. Sugden (P); 2nd Lt. Lee O. Bogue, Jr. (CP); 2nd Lt. Benjamin S. Opperman (N); 2nd Lt. George F. Collins (B); T/Sgt. Edward H. Kinney (E); T/Sgt. Anacleto E. Magliacane (RO); S/Sgt. Warren E. Smith (NG); S/Sgt. Paul S. Hensley (TTG); S/Sgt. Clifford E. Todd (BTG); S/Sgt. Robert C. Lind (TG)(kneeling, fourth from left). This crew was KIA on 27 February 1945. Read a tribute to these men - the entire story and painting of this aircraft - here. And more from another's view here.
April 21, 1944
Approximately 1 hoour before take-off at Stornara Airfield near Cerignola, Italy.
Target: Bucharest, Rumania
Just prior to Bucharest, confronted by nine ME-109 Luftwaffe fighters who attacked "The Nancy Anne" positioned near the "Tail-end Charlie" area of the 3rd box of the formation.
She sustained severe and critical damages which resulted in her being scrapped after bringing her crew home.
Standing L-R: Sgt. Miller (TG); Sgt. Byrd (E); Sgt. Lalonde (NG); Sgt. Zappula (BTG); Sgt. Moyer (TTG); Sgt. Davis (RO)
Kneeling L-R: Lt. Bereen (N); Lt. Dorbian (B); Lt. Mapa (P); Lt. Ceretti (CP)
Sgt. Miller, Sgt. Byrd and Lt. Mapa were wounded over Bucharest, Rumania on April 21, 1944.
Sgt. Davis was killed over Bucharest, Rumania on April 21, 1944.
Lt. Bereen was killed over Weiner Neustadt, Austria on May 10, 1944
The Nancy Anne
Last photo of my aircraft "The Nancy Anne" a B-24H Liberator. Bomber a/c# 41-29311.
Departed Hamilton field—north of San Francisco on January 4,1944. Arrived at Stornara in Italy on February 8, 1944, with stops in Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Belem, Brazil, Dakar, Marrakech, Telergma, Oudna and Tunis.
A short bio of me; John S. Mapa, 1st Lt., Army Air Corps. A former ‘short handle hoe’ specialist approximately 3 years removed from the lettuce and beet fields of the Central California green belt. Yes, from a migrant labor family that migrated from Hawaii in the twenties to perform labor that appeared beneath the dignity of many.
The ‘day of infamy’ was the impetus that initiated Hollywood to produce so many aerial combat films whose leading men were heroes whether they lived or died. I must admit, I succumbed to the glamour and eventually found myself as an army air corps cadet, receiving my ‘silver wings’ and commissioned a 2nd Lt. on January 4, 1943. First combat mission was to Grottaferrata, Italy on February 17, 1944. Target was Field Marshal Kesselring’s headquarters. I can be contacted at majmapa@yahoo.com.
The Stanley Burda Crew; pilot Stanley is standing 2nd from the left.
"Alice", A/C 42-94777
Crew of "Alice" that was shot down on 20 Sept 1944. At least some of the crew bailed out over the Adriatic. The pilot was Dale V. Maupin and other members Stanley Andrews, Elmer J. Thompson, Raymond F. Hague, Joseph Campagnula, Stanley J. Grabec, Gerald Katzman and Frank J. Przbylski. Maupin and Przbylski were MIA; the others KIA.
Stanley Andrews, of the Maupin crew from above, is on the right, in the last photograph taken before he was killed in action.
Wilson D. Smith, navigator 744th Squadron
On the 74th mission of the 456th, Wilson and his plane, Madam Zig Zag, A/C# 42-52233, were one of 34 planes that left Stornara 26 June 1944. They headed towards Moosebierbaum, Austria to bomb oil refineries. Madame Zig Zag was one of two planes that did not return. Wilson and his crew were able to bail out safely, but were POWs for 10 months.
The following added later, from Wilson's cousin Gary Bullinger:
I recently received a document from Wilson's brother Bob Smith titled, "Statement or report of interview of recovered personnel" which had the following information:
Commanding Officer: Col. Thomas Steed
Name of Prisoner of War camp or camps, and length of time served in each:
Stalag Luft 3, 7 months.
Stalag Luft 13B, 2 months.
Mooseburg, 3 weeks. (I believe this was Stalag 7A, per map)
Names of Senior US Army Officers in each such prisoner of war camp: (respectively)
Col Alkire
Col Alkire
Col Good
Thanks to Joseph F. Chalker I was able to get a Madam Zig Zag crew list. It's as follows:
2nd Lt Dudley B. Field, Pilot
1st Lt Paul E. Gusse, Bombardier
2nd Lt Wilson D. Smith, Navigator
S/Sgt Henry A. Barrett, Upper Turret
S/Sgt Archie G. Hatch, Nose Turret
T/Sgt Matthew G. Beland, Engineer
T/Sgt William J. Harvey, Turret Gunner
It might be interesting to add that Wilson's plane was shot down by ME-109s after losing its superchargers. (I'm assuming the subsequent failure of the superchargers caused the B-24 to lose altitude & thus became more susceptible to enemy fire).
Courtesy of Terry Spencer
The crew of "Lassie Come Home."
Front row kneeling L-R: Steve Hansen (CP); Paul Crisafulli (N); Werner Foss (B); Stanley Sagert (P)
Back row standing L-R: Kermit Caudill (BTG); Joseph L. Estep,Jr. (RO); Lloyd Beaver (TG); James Crowell (E); Charles Lee (NG); Charles Krause (TTG)
From Fred Riley: ... the plane called "Lassie Come Home", A/C# 42-52215, was in the 746th Squadron. It was assigned to the crew of Capt. Stanley Sagert, they were sort of a hard luck crew and seemed to encounter problems. While in crew training at Muroc Air Field (Now Edwards AFB) as I recall, I think on one flight they lost two engines on the same side.
Stan Sagert was not a large man and the plane developed a lot of torque and they were having difficulty controlling it. The co-pilot Lt. Stephan Hansen was a large Swede and he was credited through his size and strength in getting he plane back to the field safely, saving both the plane and crew.
After they had flown some missions, on 7/15/44 (See the history book) while on a mission to Ploesti they encountered problems and went down but evaded capture and finally returned to the Stornara base. (I think they bailed out and Stan was rather a religious man and carried a picture of Christ by the throttle controls in the cockpit. If my memory serves me I believe they went to the crash site of the plane and recovered that picture.)
On this day they were flying a different plane, A/C# 42-78275, I do not know if it had a name. Also, I do not know what became of their original plane, Lassie Come Home. Upon their return to the base I believe that Stan insisted the men on the crew not be required to return to flight status.
Most of the crew were quite young, they had a number of missions in and had had quite a few bad experiences.
I believe the original crew was:
* Stanley Sagert (P)
Werner Foss (B)
* Kermit Caudill (E)
* Charles Lee (G)
* Lloyd Beaver (TG)
* Joseph Estep (RO)
Paul Crisafulli (N)(Had been Wounded In Action)
* William Breese (N)
Stephan Hansen (CP) - Deceased 8/16/98
* Daniel Krause (TTG) - Deceased 3/25/93
* James Crowell (G)
* Vernon Altheide (CP) - Deceased 1952
* Julian Rice (B)
* Indicates those on the 7/15/44 mission. On that mission the original bombardier, Werner Foss, navigator Paul Crissafulli and Stephan Hansen were not aboard, other than their replacements the others were all original crew.
Courtesy of Terry Spencer
This photo is called "Chico", the name of the monkey. His larger friend is Joseph L. Estep Jr.
Fred Riley remarked when this came in: "This guy likes to monkey around!! When we went through Brazil on the way over some of the fellows bought monkeys from the natives. I had a small one for awhile but felt sorry for it so I released it before we flew on!"
In the left photo is Joe ? and Edward Millsap, right photo is Millsap and Ernest ? More at Edward Millsap.
Left, Edward Millsap, 747th Squadron; right photo unknown.
Captain Leo Florick, 747th.
Culbertson Crew of the 746th
Standing L-R: Lt. George (B); Lt. Culbertson (P); Lt. Halzeworth(?) (CP); Lt. Hardy (N); Cpl. Fred McCord (NG)
Squatting L-R: Bob Glatz (TTG); A. Warren Lundberg (TG); Shorty Pohl (BTG); ?????; ?????. 746th Bomb Squadron, A/C 42-51573 "Miss Conduct"
Courtesy of Dick VerWayne son of Wane VerWayne, 745th
A photo of the 745th Bomb Squadron. Appears to be from Italy given the steel mesh.
Courtesy of Bob Sherwood, nephew of Fred Sherwood
"Big Butch" and J. J. Walker Crew, 745th Bomb Squadron
Back row L-R: Fred Sherwood (CP); J.J. Walker (P); Bohman (N); Robert Swan (B)
Middle row L-R: Don Talbert (E); Forrest Beck (TTG); Harold Bern (NG)
Front row L-R: Francis Davis (RO); William Whitworth (TG); Allan Miller (BTG)
Big Butch was shot down on 17 Aug. 44 over Ploesti, Rumania. All of the crew were POW or evadees, and were able to return to the US. Sherwood, Bohman, Whitworth, and Talbert were not on Big Butch that day. Whitworth was on “The Reluctant Beaver” as a member of H.J. Majors crew, and was shot down on 13 October 1944 on a mission over Blechhammer, becoming a POW. Sherwood was a co-pilot on "Short Snorter", the Tom Curtis crew, and was wounded 11 December 1944.
Cartwright crew
This photo was perhaps taken before they shipped out to Italy.
Standing L-R: Lt. William "Jarvis" Cartwright (P) Elizabeth City, NC; Lt. Andrew Cooney (CP)(KIA) New York City; Lt. David W. Lander (B)(KIA) New York City; Sgt. George W. Walters (LWG) Paducah, KY
Kneeling L-R: Sgt. Joe M. Cooper (RWG) Oakland, MS; Sgt. Walter C. "Doug" Campbell (NG) Columbia, SC; Cpl. Ralph J. Schwab (TTG) Decatur, IL; Sgt. Larry J. LeBlanc (TG) Narco, LA; Sgt. George A. Swantner (BTG) Chili,IN.
Dad wrote on the back of the photo "The Fighting 69th" and gave an "efficiency" rating next to each name. George Walters wrote, "It is very easy to tell who did the efficiency rating, ha! Then Doug answered, "He's just jealous because I'm handsome." And G.W. replied, "That's a funny one."
This crew flew together and were shot down on Feb. 28, 1945. They flew out of Stornara Field Italy and were last sighted at an altitude of 25,000 ft. over their target, the Isarco/Albes RR Bridge Italy. As reported by witness Capt. James G. Flick, the aircraft received a direct flak hit to the rear of the nose wheel doors and parts of the bottom of the aircraft appeared to break loose. The plane feel back in the formation, then turned left to a northwest heading. The aircraft appeared to be under control and flyable. Dad told me that the flak blew the bombadier out of the plane and he had to reach across the hole in the plane to retrieve his parachute. They thought the plane had made it over the border to Allied territory when they bailed out, only to run into a German patrol when he began walking down a road after landing. He would never talk about the war or his experiences for many years and only answered a few questions, giving few recollections in his later years. He kept in touch with the pilot and several others of the crew for a while, but having moved 5 or 6 times in his career with Nabisco finally lost touch. I saw on the 456th website that this crew is listed among the 3,000 lost touch with...
Hoppock crew
The 746th Squadron, 456th Bomb group.
Standing L-R: Evans Dadison (N); Harold Jarvis (B); Lee Leavell (CP); Irving Hoppock (P)
Squatting L-R: Ray Pillard (BTG); James Sullivan (RO); Tom Porter (TG); Len Liddic (E); Herb Million (G); Wendel Place (NG)
Four Amigos - Roy L. Firestone, David Newton Clough, Alton Blair Shockley and...?
The town square fountain in Stornara. L-R is David Newton Clough, Roy L. Firestone and Richard E. Mrugacz.
Roy L. Firestone and Robert W. Martin
Roy L. Firestone and Charles E. McComas.
Unknown, Roy L. Firestone and Alton Blair Shockley
Three 'old' sergeants taking care of business before shipping out. Center is Roy L. Firestone, the others - not sure yet!
Cadet Albert Miller
The Frank Rudesill crew of the 746th with "Baby Boots"
Back L-R: Glenn Frese (CP); Bob Benham (B); Frank Rudesill (P)
Front L-R: Ed O'Meara, Jim McDonald, Ted Leach, Jack Kiriluk, Dominic Uzzi, Andy Skibo.
"Milk Run Maizie" with Ted Leach, Jack Kiriluk and Ed O'Meara (who painted the artwork behind him).
The Sam McElroy Crew
Standing L-R: Lt. Marfia (CP); Lt. McElroy (P); Cpl. Johnson (E); Cpl. Zdral (Arm); Cpl. Edwin Luetkemeyer (RO)
Kneeling L-R: F/O Teague (N); Lt. Pike (B); Cpl. Limbert (TTG); Cpl. Stallins (BTG)
Edwin G. Luetkemeyer
Ed Luetkemeyer in the tent doorway; no info on others in photo.
From Joel Russell: "The man standing on the left in the foreground is Robert "Bob: L. Stallins who was BT on the McElroy Crew. Ed Luetkemeyer was the R/O on the same crew. Bob and his twin brother Ray, were my Dad's best friends growing up. His brother Ray was a fighter pilot. Bob later served during the Korean War. After surviving all of that he died just short of his 32nd birthday in 1957."
Courtesy of Warren Schwartz
Standing (L-R): H. Hochberger; W. Cameron; P. Symon; W. Thompson; Joseph Pisano; L. Chemiac
Squatting (L-R): J. Ballew (N); H. Schmidt (P); Bernard Schwartz (CP)
Courtesy of Andy and Matt Field - sons of Bob Field
Standing L-R: Frank Coupe; Bill Boyd; Art Rosenthal; Tom Norris; Lloyd Kraft
Squatting L-R: John Weber; Fred Robinson; Jim Gardner; Robert Sciacqua; Bob Field
Crew #17, December 1943
Muroc Army Air Base, California
456th Bombardment Group, 745th Squadron
