Wallace C. Forsythe Crew

418th Sqdn Crew, as above, joined the 100th Group on 28/11/43.

This was the second Crew to fly Messie Bessie, Capt. Walter "Chief" Moreno being the first.

Lt Forsythe flew his last mission with this Crew on April 13, 1944 Augsburg. 2nd Lt Haralson took over as 1st pilot and the rest of the Crew except Capt Forsythe and Sgt Schad completed their tour on May 13, 1944 mission to Osnabruck. Co Pilot on the Crew from May 1, 1944 to May 13, 1944 was Lt R. C. Holliday from the Crew of Lt Gummersall. He completed his tour with this Crew.

Incomplete list of Missions for Capt. Forsythe:

Incomplete list of Missions for Rest of Crew except Capt. Forsythe and Sgt Schard:

Incomplete list of Missions for Sgt Schard:

A Tribute to the Ground Crews

By 2nd Lt. Robert McAtee, of Gun Barrel, Texas

My hat will always be off to the Ground Crew of our ship, Messie Bessie. Without their conscientious efforts, it is quite possible that our crew (Pilot Wallace Forsythe, Navigator Hank Paine, Engineer Percy Johnson) could have gone down over Germany and spent some time in the POW camp or have been killed. Poor maintenance could have easily caused engine failure, the loss of an oxygen system, loss of control mechanism, and a hundred other reasoned could have caused us to lose our position in the formation and fall prey to enemy aircraft But that did not happen.

Instead, we were able to fly our and with the few extra gallons of gas provided by the ground crew we stayed airborne delivered our bombs, and landed safely at home after 29 mission. I know many lives were saved by the ground crew doing a splendid job.

After a mission the ground crew would be at the dispersal site. They wanted not only to hear what had to be fixed, but they also wanted to hear about the mission. Flak? Enemy fighters? Anyone injured? We felt they were living the missions with us. By the time we boarded the truck for Operations, they were hooking up generators, cleaning up the spent 50-calibar casings and getting ready for another miserable night at the dispersal area.

I assumed all crews worked under the same SOP. Each aircrew member reported any malfunctions to the aircraft commander who, in turn, reported the problem to the ground crew chief. Armament, ordinance and engineering were then brought into repairing the malfunction. This combined effort had one goal -- to get the plane airworthy for the next mission. This procedure was complicated by working conditions. Working mostly at night in the cold English weather was an ordeal by itself. Lighting had to be rigged from generators, with flashlights for close work. To get the job done required a lot of know-how and perseverance. Unless a badly damaged aircraft required major overhaul, the work was accomplished at the dispersal site. Tee crew did not have the luxury of working in a heated hangar during daylight, but in the cold of night with cold, numbed fingers. Still, the work was done--and done well.

The ground crew included ordinance, armament, and engineering. At the dispersal camp, in the hangars, at the bomb storage area or in the offices, the total effort was to do whatever was necessary the prepare the ship and airmen for the next mission.

We who were privileged to fly the missions received 95 per cent of the glory. However, those who flew were well aware that we could not have been there without the tremendous effort of the support personnel. If the war over Germany was won in the air, it started on the ground at the airbases all over England.