COMMENTS & NOTES
MEMO 1:
CREW
2nd Lt Jack L.Gay P CPT 4 MAR 45 ULM (flew a total of 33 missions)
2nd Lt James W. Knowles. CP CPT See note below
2nd Lt Warren R.Jones NAV CPT 4 MAR 45 ULM
F/0 Bernard LaBrie BOM CPT 4 MAR 45 ULM
S/Sgt Raymond J.Rasmuson ROG CPT 4 MAR 45 ULM
S/Sgt Herman F.Eckmeyer TTE POW 31 JAN 44 HAMBURG (With W.G.Wilson crew, see below)
Sgt Leonard L.Lombardo BTG CPT 4 MAR 45 ULM
Sgt John M. McDowell WG POW DATE UKN (replace by Sgt N. Perovich from Monrad and Drummund Crews) see below
Sgt Dana V.Cable WG CPT 20 JAN 45 HEIBRON, MY (S.T.)
Pvt Donald G.Fagen TG CPT 4 MAR 45 ULM
351st Sqdn. Crew,as above,joined the 100th Group on 2/8/44.
It is probable that to reduce to a nine man crew Sgt.Cable was shifted to another crew.
S/Sgt Herman F. Eckmeyer from the Jack Gay crew flew with the Wallace G. Wilson crew on the 31 Dec 44 Hamburg mission, replacing Lt. Brewin.
"According to a letter from Norm Graham,navigator of the P.B.Batterman crew, Batterman broke an arm after joining the 100th on 5/10/44 and Jim Knowles was assigned as pilot of the Batterman crew. Knowles and most of the Batterman stayed together until completion of their tour."
(I believe this is wrong, after the Dec 31,st 1944 mission to Hamburg, the Batterman Crew with Knowles as pilot was broken up, with members going to Lt Hutchinson's Lead Crew and Lt Garrison's Crew. I have only two records of Lt Knowles flying as 1st pilot after Dec 31, 1944, one on March 17, 1945 to Plauen and one the following day March 18, 1945 flying 503 LN-A, an a/c from the 350th BS to Berlin. My best guess for this big lapse of time is that Knowles may have gone back to Lt Gay Crew as CP from Jan 5-March 4, 1945 or been ill? Only loading lists for Lt. Gay Crew in Jan/Feb 45 can answer that question,,,,mpf 2006)
COMPLETE MISSIONS OF LT GAY (with Lt Knowles as CP until Nov 26, 1944))
Date Last Name Initial Rank Position Aircraft # and Name Target
1. 8/24/1944 GAY J.L. LT P 37521 SKYWAY CHARIOT RUHLAND (OIL)
2. 8/25/1944 GAY J.L. LT P 37936 ALL AMERICAN GIRL POLITZ (OIL)
3. 8/26/1944 GAY J.L. LT P 38047 INNOCENT BYSTANDER BREST
4. 8/27/1944 GAY J.L. LT P 31412 MASON & DIXON BERLIN (RECALL)
5. 9/08/1944 GAY J.L. LT P 37812 PATRIOTIC PATTY MAINZ
6. 9/18/1944 GAY J.L. LT P 37812 PATRIOTIC PATTY WARSAW (2nd RUSSIAN SHUTTLE)
7. 9/19/1944 GAY J.L. LT P 37812 PATRIOTIC PATTY SZOLNOK (FROM RUSSIA)
9/22/1944 GAY J.L. LT P 37812 PATRIOTIC PATTY CREWS RETURN FROM RUSSIAN SHUTTLE
8. 9/30/1944 GAY J.L. LT P 37812 PATRIOTIC PATTY BIELEFELD
9. 10/12/1944 GAY J.L. LT P BREMEN, GERMANY Bremen
10. 11/02/1944 GAY J.L. LT P MERSEBURG, GERMANY
11. 11/26/1944 GAY J.L. LT P HAMM, GERMANY
12. 11/29/1944 GAY J.L. LT P HAMM, GERMANY
13. 12/05/1944 GAY J.L. LT P 48209 THE BRASS HAT BERLIN
14. 12/11/1944 GAY J.L. LT P 48209 THE BRASS HAT GIESSEN/KOBLENZ
15. 12/12/1944 GAY J.L. LT P Flew Another Squdron Plane DARMSTADT
16. 12/24/1944 GAY J.L. LT P 48209 THE BRASS HAT BIBLIS
17. 12/27/1944 GAY J.L. LT P 38610 EP-T PFF FULDA
18. 12/30/1944 GAY J.L. LT P KASSEL, GERMANY
19. 12/31/1944 GAY J.L. LT P 38514 EP-J E-Z GOIN HAMBURG, GERMANY
1/05/1945 GAY J.L. LT P 46613 LN-T (OXYGEN LEAK) FRANKFURT
20. 1/06/1945 GAY J.L. LT P 38770 EP-? GERMERSHEIM/ANNWEILER
21. 1/10/1945 GAY J.L. LT P 38610 EP-T PFF DUISBURG
22. 1/28/1945 GAY J.L. LT P 38861 SWEET NANCY II DUISBURG
23. 1/29/1945 GAY J.L. LT P 38610 EP-T PFF KASSEL
24. 2/03/1945 GAY J.L. LT P 48616 LD-Z BERLIN
25. 2/09/1945 GAY J.L. LT P 31708 SKIPPER II BOHLEN/WEIMAR (ABORTED)
26. 2/19/1945 GAY J.L. LT P OSNABRUCK
27. 2/21/1945 GAY J.L. LT P 38852 EP-N NURNBURG
28. 2/22/1945 GAY J.L. LT P 38852 EP-N KITZINGEN, (blew tire did not take off)
29. 2/23/1945 GAY J.L. LT P 38852 EP-N TREUCHTLINGEN
30. 2/25/1945 GAY J.L. LT P 38852 EP-N MUNICH
31. 2/28/1945 GAY J.L. LT P 38852 EP-N KASSEL
32. 3/02/1945 GAY J.L. LT P 38852 EP-N RUHLAND
33. 3/04/1945 GAY J.L. LT P 38852 EP-N ULM (COMPLETED TOUR-33 MISSIONS)
My dad, Jack L. Gay, is still alive and living on his own.
Your incomplete list of missions lists some of the planes he flew.
There are pictures of a few of these on his web page .
Http://ourgalsal.com/ [ this has copy of his missions ]
You have the Jack Gay crew in front of the Our Gal Sal but
do not list it as a plane used on a mission. This is wrong. Dad did
fly Our Gal Sal several times.
Also --- dad flew a plane named MafKing - N in England which you
do not list.
He found the plane in Lubbock as a war weary before it was sent on
to Kingman.Dad climbed into MafKing and has the name tag from the control column.
I have additional high quality crew pictures which will probably never
be loaded to the web page.
Not sure if these will be released in future or not.
William Gay [ Son of Jack L Gay ] w.gay@sbcglobal.net
wlgay1@gmail.com
Dad said the Russians were crazy. When loading the bombs for the
return trip, they drove up and just rolled the bombs
off the back of a truck onto the ground. The American jeeps the
Russians were driving were "made in Russia" according to them.
Looking through the AAF Form #5, I see dad flying planes from
Lubbock to Kingman - Nov 1945. Wow --- I can trace his missions on the
AAF form No 5 and the type of planes flown [B25,C47,B17,trainer, etc ] .
I just found a promotion form to " Captain, Air Corps " February
18th, 1946 with an official stamp on it.
I see his honorable discharge has a Dec 4, 1943 date [ oops - his
last combat mission was March 1945 ] .
His discharge from the Air Reserves was dated September 28, 1957 on
the cover letter.
*************************************************************
The following comments were revised after a telephone conversation with
my dad, Jack L. Gay on Sunday February 7, 2010 and Monday
February 8, 2010 Regarding Berlin Feb 3, 1945 Mission:
------------------------------------
Jack commented that Rosie had big strong hands and he had great
control of a B 17 in the air. Jack flew with Rosie one time. Rosie
sat in the copilot seat. Rosie flew some and he had Jack fly various
turns and maneuvers. Jack never did learn why.
Jack frequently flew the high element lead. He was flying
high element lead on the Berlin flight (Feb 3, 1945) when Rosie was
hit by flak. There was a 100 mph tail wind. This
made the bomber group arrive there early. Rosie was flying
group lead and Jack was flying high element lead. Dad was
a little behind and a little above Rosie's B17.
As the group approached Berlin, all the little gas tanks
[ the small gas tanks were sometimes called Tokyo tanks]
were drained into the 4 main gas tanks. As the bomb group
came up on the IP [ Initial Point ]- the high element shifted
over to the left a little and down a little.
This spread out the formation for the bomb run.
So after spreading out for the bomb run Jack was behind
and a little above Rosie's left wingman.
As the bombers came up over the edge of Berlin, the anti-aircraft
guns started firing. Rosie's left wingman took a direct hit in his
right wing next to the fuselage. Jack doubted that any one
escaped as the right wing was blown off and the B17 immediately
fell. Flak then hit Rosie's B17 and Jack's B17. Jack did not
know Rosie's B17 had been hit.
A 88 shell went through Jacks #3 main wing tank and
opened up the top of the wing. Jack thought the #3 tank held
about 400 gallons of gas. Planes behind Jack reported flying
through a cloud of gasoline. Underneath tank #3 was a red hot
turbocharger. Some of the 100 octane gas ran inside the
fuselage of the B17. The ball turret gunner [ Leonard Lombardo ]
claimed he was dry cleaned by the high octane fuel in his
ball turret. There were all kinds of motors and relays active
inside the B17. The crew shouted out to not do anything to cause a
spark.
The loss of the gas in tank #3 meant engine #3 died for lack of fuel.
More gas could have been transferred to tank #3
but the big holes in the tank would immediately empty the tank.
Jack and Rosie stayed in formation and dropped bombs.
Once the bombs were dropped, Jack dropped out of formation.
Jack's navigator wanted to head to Sweden. Sweden was only
about 30 minutes away and they would be held there for the rest of the
war.
Jack chose to risk flying back against the 100 mph head wind. He had
a wing opened up where the 88 shell exited tank #3 and he
only had 3 engines. The B17 was put into a slow power glide toward
England. The fuel mixture was leaned out as much as possible.
Once over the North Sea, everything that was loose was thrown out.
They flew from one rescue ship to the next. Near the shore
the last rescue ship advised Jack to ditch while they still had some control.
The gas gauges were bouncing on empty. Two little English fighters
came out to meet Jack. Seeing the two little fighters Jack decided to follow
them in to their small landing field. The crew were in ditching position in
the radio cabin. Jack came in too high so he put it in a steep dive and pulled out at
the last minute hitting the ground hard. Once the wheels touched down, Jack
raised the tail up to put all the force of the wings on the tires as he
locked the brakes.It was a hard landing and the crew in back could only assume it was
a crash. Lombardo [ ball turret gunner ] said he got out and kissed the ground.
1-- talked to dad several times about the British fighter escort on
Feb 3 to the short landing field.he had no knowledge or idea what type of airplane they
were they were flying together - one right off the others wing and "small" they came out as he neared shore and led him directly to
the short landing field
2 - I asked several times if he saw any thing else during Feb 3 flight He saw no one else get hit He dropped out of formation once he dropped his bombs. However ---- he did mention as they got over the North Sea they saw something disturbing [ I had never
heard this before ] they saw another B17 about a thousand feet below them and the crew bailed out over the North Sea
and the plane kept flying around ----- Jack thought it strange the pilot did not have the men jump over land rather into the North Sea
3- note again Jack's crew was in ditching position when he landed and when Jack hit the ground hard - he was sure the crew thought
they had ditched in the water
He also talked a little about the 2nd Russian Shuttle Mission.
I will see if I can assemble some details & comments on the Feb 3 rd flight &
may be the Russian Shuttle Mission. I doubt that we could make the meeting.
It is something that there will be 10 B 17s.
I have ridding in the Texas Raiders for about 30 minutes. I have crawled through
the Thunder Bird and the Arizona Wings plane - Sentimental Journey.
Wlg
Monday August 16, 2010
My dad, Jack L. Gay, called this afternoon. He had been out much of the day mowing with his
John Deere tractor. He is 89 and lives on 20 acres by himself.
While he was mowing down in "back" he got to thinking about his first co-pilot,
James W. Knowles. Dad said " James was a great pilot". James had been
a flight instructor and apparently wanted to fly combat missions. Jack and James
joined up as crew members state side. Some of their training was at Dyersburg
[ Tennessee] Army Air Base [ DAAB}. While landing on one of the Dyersburg's
training missions, their B17 was caught in prop wash and the a wing flipped up
so that the other wing was about to dig into the ground. Both Jack and James exactly
at the same time grabbed the controls and in perfect coordination brought the wing
down to make a successful landing.
My dad said he learned a lot of things from James and James made him a better pilot.
Dad said James was very respectful and never hesitated when given any command.
Dad said the Air Force tried to make a lead pilot out of him [ Jack } but for some reason
it did not work out. I believe Jack may have flown as lead pilot for the entire group one time.
However Jack did end up flying as the lead pilot for the high element.
Dad and his ball turret gunner, Leonard L. Lombardo, have tried to locate James
W. Knowles a couple of times in the past.
Can you help us in finding James W Knowles? Is he still alive? Do you know anything about
what James did after the war and where he went?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
William Gay
wlgay1@gmail.com
son of Jack L. Gay
PS. We currently know 3 of the Jack L Gay crew are still alive.
Leonard L. Lombardo lives out in California.
Donald G Fagen lives in Iowa, but does not remember Leonard or Jack.
Jack Gay still drives to town frequently, lives on his own, feeds the birds and
cares for the 20 acres he has called home since 1957.
============ more Knowles ==========================
Jack Notes from July 14, 2010
mission Russia to Italy -- lombard could see a fluid leaking
under /around engine # 2
flew across Ugoslavia ?
when got to Italy to land -- landing planes one after another
when applied the brakes - there were none
Knowles was copilot - he was very good
Jack yelled to release the tail wheel lock
Jack shut off the left engines and the plane
made a big ground loop to the left out of the way of
other planes
Knoles thought that was brilliantly executed
I have heard this exact account repeated at least 3 times.
Regarding Merseburg mission 11/2/1944
Jack said they were told the Germans had a 1000 flak
guns there. When he got there - there was flak
everywhere
[ I believe originally in previous notes - Jack said
he normally was very calm but he said a B17 in front of
him got hit - it lit up from wing tip to wing tip and it was
gone
Talking with Jack July 14, 2010
about being scared he said he saw a B17 at Munich
get hit and vanish -- that it scared him
not 100 percent sure if these were 2 events or time has shifted the memory to Munich he seemed very sure of Munich on July 14,2010 and did not immediately remember the plane hit scaring him at Merseburg although the memory of the 1000 flak guns was immediately repeated and he said something like Merseburg was a wild and crazy mission
**************************************************************************************************************
NOTE 1:
Lt Knowles as 1st Pilot with Lt Batterman Crew. (Knowles first mission with this crew was Nov 26, 1944)
2nd Lt James W. Knowles P
F/0 Raymond Stiller CP
2nd Lt Norman Graham NAV
2nd Lt Arthur R.Zemeke BOM
Cpl Thomas H.Fagan ROG
Cpl Robert B.May TTE
Cpl Reid G.Jensen WG
Cpl Leon E.Hebert,Jr BTG
Cpl Elmer F.Hooper TG
Missions of Lt James W. Knowles Crew
26/11/44 HAMM
02/12/44 KOBLENZ 42-31708 SKIPPER II
05/12/44 BERLIN 42-31708 SKIPPER II
30/12/44 KASSEL 42-31767 OUR GAL SAL
31/12/44 HAMBURG 42-31530 QUITTIN' TIME
17/03/45 PLAUEN 42-31530 QUITTIN' TIME
18/03/45 BERLIN 44-8503 "BABY BUNTY"
CREW
2nd Lt Paul B.Batterman P CPT 6/4/45 LEIPZIG (CP on Capt. Hutchinson Lead Crew) SEE BELOW
F/0 Raymond Stiller CP CPT
2nd Lt Norman "The Kid" Graham NAV CPT (NAV on Capt Hutchinson Lead Crew) SEE BELOW TAPS: 1989
2nd Lt Arthur R.Zemske BOM CPT 6/4/45 LEIPZIG (BOM on Capt. Hutchinson Lead Crew) SEE BELOW
Cpl Thomas H.Fagan ROG CPT TAPS: 1/24/89 (ROG on Capt. Hutchinson Lead Crew) SEE BELOW
Cpl Robert B.May TTE CPT TAPS: 11/14/80 (went to Lt Garrison Crew after Dec 31, 1944)
Cpl Reid G.Jensen WG CPT TAPS: 1/8/80
Cpl Leon E.Hebert,Jr. BTG CPT (originally LWG)
Cpl Elmer F.Hooper TG CPT 20 APR 45 ORANIENBURG (went to Lt Garrison Crew)
Cpl Robert C.Mackey WG NOC (originally BTG)
351st Sqdn. Crew,as above,joined 100th Group on 5/10/44.
From a letter from Norm Graham dated 24/3/83 we learn: ". . . . Batterman broke arm bicycle soon after crew joined 100th. Lt Jim Knowles (from Lt Gay Crew) was assigned as our pilot and we all flew together for a few missions. Zemske & Graham then placed on the crew
of Dave Hutchinson. Later, Batterman joined the Hutchinson crew as CP and Tom Fagan as ROG. Finished tour. Ray Stiller, Bob May, Reid Jensen, Leon Hebert and Elmer Hooper stayed with Lt Knowles crew and flew 5 missions. After Dec. 31, 1944 mission to Hamburg, the crew is broken up, with Graham, Zemske, and Fagan going to Lt Hutchinson's Lead Crew and May and Hooper going to Lt Garrisons Crew. I have only two records of Lt Knowles flying as 1st pilot after Dec 31, 1944, one on March 17, 1945 and one the following day March 18, 1945 flying 503 LN-A, an a/c from the 350th BS to Berlin.
No memory of Robt.Mackey after reaching England. He probably was removed to reduce crew to nine men. James W.Knowles was original CP on crew of Jack L.Gay. Lt Batterman also flew some missions as co-pilot on Lt Streich Crew…(from Leon Schwartz-Streich Crew)
CREW
2ND LT DAVID E. HUTCHINSON P CPT 08 APR 45 EGER (CZECH) TAPS: 1975
2ND LT ROBERT L. RICHARDSON CP KIA 31 DEC 44 HAMBURG (BURIED CAMBRIDGE, ENG.)
F/O RODMAN B. PORTER NAV RFS
2ND LT ALFRED V. PATERNO BOM ASSIGNED TO LEAD CREW OF JESSIE WOFFORD
T/SGT JACK H. PARKER ROG SWA 31 DEC 44 HAMBURG (FLAK WOUND)
T/SGT ANTHONY C. SAPPER TTE CPT DATE & MISSION UNK
S/SGT GEORGE D. MAST WG CPT DATE & MISSION UNK
S/SGT JOSEPH W. KAMPER, JR BTG CPT DATE & MISSION UNK
S/SGT WILLIAM R. TAYLOR TG CPT 08 APR 45` EGER (CZECH)
351ST SQDN.. CREW JOINED THE 100TH ON 20 OCT 1944
THIS WITH SOME PERSONNEL CHANGES BECAME A LEAD CREW. LTs NORMAN GRAHAM & ARTHUR ZEMSKE FROM THE P.B. BATTERMAN CREW REPLACED PORTER AND PATERNO. LATER P.B. BATTERMAN, HIMSELF, JOINED AS CO-PILOT (MOSTLY FLYING TAIL GUNNER). ALSO SGT TOM FAGAN FROM THE BATTERMAN CREW REPLACED THE WOUNDED JACK PARKER.
IN A LETTER TO JIM BROWN IN 1983 NORMAN GRAHAM EXPRESSED THE BELIEF THAT ALFRED PATERNO WAS ASSIGNED TO A LEAD CREW PILOTED BY JESSIE WOFFORD..pw
LEAD CREW (mpf 2000)
2ND LT DAVID E. HUTCHINSON P CPT 08 APR 45 EGER (CZECH)
2ND LT PAUL B. BATTERMAN CP CPT 06 APR 45 LEIPZIG
2ND LT NORMAN GRAHAM NAV CPT DATE & MISSION UNK
2ND LT ARTHUR ZEMSKE BOMB CPT 06 APR 45 LEIPZIG
SGT THOMAS FAGEN ROG CPT DATE & MISSION UNK
T/SGT ANTHONY C. SAPPER TTE CPT DATE & MISSION UNK
S/SGT GEORGE D. MAST WG CPT DATE & MISSION UNK
S/SGT JOSEPH W. KAMPER, JR BTG CPT DATE & MISSION UNK
S/SGT WILLIAM R. TAYLOR TG CPT 08 APR 45 EGER (CZECH)
INCOMPLETE LIST OF MISSIONS FOR LT DAVID HUTCHINSON CREW
DATE TARGET A/C # A/C NAME
05/12/44 BERLIN 42-31530 QUITTIN TIME
12/12/44 DARMSTADT 43-38610 PATHFINDER A/C (RADAR EQUIPPED)
25/12/44 KAISERLAUTERN 43-38610 PATHFINDER A/C (RADAR EQUIPPED)
30/12/44 KASSEL 43-38610 PATHFINDER A/C (RADAR EQUIPPED)
31/12/44 HAMBURG 43-38610 PATHFINDER A/C (RADAR EQUIPPED)
10/01/45 COLOGNE
21/03/45 RUHLAND 44-8209 THE BRASS HAT (PATHFINDER A/C)
06/04/45 LEIPZIG 44-8209 THE BRASS HAT (PATHFINDER A/C)
08/04/45 EGER (CZECH)
SGT MAY AND SGT HOOPER INFO:
CREW
1st Lt Jerome S. Garrison P FEH
F/O Warren A. Storz CP FEH
2nd Lt Francis J. Dolan NAV RFS After 6 Missions, Replaced by Lt Wallace Polansky
2nd Lt George N. Yee BOM FEH
S/Sgt Harold F. Costaldo TTE CPT 8 APR 45 EGER, MY (CZECH), replaced by Cpl Robert May
Cpl Steve J/ Kowalski ROG FEH
Cpl William H. Andrews BTG FEH
S/Sgt George F. Miller WG FEH sn# 3386826
Cpl Robert J. Mackeigan TG RFS After 2 Missions Replaced by Cpl. Elmer Hooper
351st Sqdn.. Crew, as above, joined the 100th on 21 Jan 1945
After six missions, Lt Dolan was replaced by Lt Wallace Polansky from Lt Robert Ellis Crew. After 2 missions, Cpl Mackeigan was replaced by Cpl Elmer Hooper from Lt Batterman/Lt Knowles Crew. S/Sgt Costaldo was replaced by Cpl Robert May from Lt Batterman/Lt Knowles Crew.
Crew flew SKIPPER II 42-31708, on March 28, 1945 this crew flew SKIPPER II on its 100th MISSION to Hanover.
MISSIONS OF S/SGT GEORGE F. MILLER (mpf 2003)
1. 06/02/45 BOHLEN
2. 21/02/45 NURNBURG
3. 22/02/45 DONAUESCHINGEN
4. 23/02/45 TREUCHTLINGEN
5. 26/02/45 BERLIN
6. 28/02/45 KASSEL
7. 02/03/45 RUHLAND & DRESDEN
8. 04/03/45 ULM
9. 10/03/45 DORTMUND
10. 12/03/45 SWEINEMUNDE
11. 17/03/45 PLAUEN
12. 22/03/45 ALHORN
13. 24/03/45 STEENWIJK
14. 24/03/45 ZIEGENHAIN (SECOND MISSION THIS DAY)
15. 28/03/45 HANOVER (100th Mission for SKIPPER II)
16. 30/03/45 HAMBURG
17. 31/03/45 ZEITZ
18. 04/04/45 KIEL
19. 05/04/45 NURNBURG
20. 07/04/45 BUCHEN
21. 08/04/45 EGER
22. 09/04/45 MUNICH
23. 10/04/45 BURG-bei-MAGDEBURG
24. 11/04/45 LANDSHUT
Note on Waist Gunner Perovich
CREW
2nd Lt Raymond V.E.Monrad P CPT UNK
2nd Lt Claude E. Schindler CP KIA 28 MAY 44 MADGEBURG
2nd Lt Frank J. McGuire NAV IIC 24 JAN 44 RTN USA ILLINESS (SPINAL MENG)
2nd Lt Arthur E. Dehn BOM CPT UNK
Sgt Sidney A.Cary TTE POW 28 MAY 44 MADGEBURG
Sgt Talbert E. Spenhoff ROG IIC 24 JAN 44 UNK REASONS
Sgt Arthur M. Lenfast, Jr. BTG KIA 04 JAN 44 KIEL (lack of oxygen)
Sgt Guthrie H. Head WG IIC 24 JAN 44
Sgt Nicholas Perovich TG CPT 04 MAR 45 KIEL, SUBYARDS
Sgt William E. Wells WG NOC
351st Sqdn. Crew, as above, joined the 100th on 1/12/43
Don Drysdale flew the last half of his tour as CP for Monrad - this was a squadron lead crew. Drysdale came from the Glen Rake crew.
S/Sgt Loren G. Johnson, LWG, was on this crew list on 8/3/44. He completed a tour.
Arch "Four Mile" Drummond, CP on the Swartout crew, became a first pilot and perhaps took over much of the Monrad crew…letter from Frank McGuire 23 Dec 1990. Jb
Missions
1. 4 Jan 44, Kiel, Ger.
2. 7 Jan 44, Ludwigshaven, Ger.
3. 14 Jan 44, Secret (France)
4. 21 Jan 44, Secret (France)
24 Jan 44 Frankfurt: Lt Arch "Four Mile"Drummond's Crew listed below crashed on takeoff in A/C 23307 SKIPPER EP-N avoiding a collision
with a stray B-24
Lt A. Drummond P CPT EARLY MARCH 1944
Lt F McGuire NAV IIC 24 JAN 44 RTN USA ILLINESS (SPINAL MENG)
Lt C Schindler CP KIA 28 MAY 44 MADGEBURG
Lt M. G. Zetlan BOM KIC 24 JAN 44
S/Sgt S.A. Cary TTE POW 28 MAY 44 MADGEBURG
S/Sgt T. E. Spenhoff ROG IIC 24 JAN 44
S/Sgt S. M. Szekely BTG CPT 24 JUL 44 ST LO
S/Sgt J.R. Pendleton WG CPT
S/Sgt G. H. Head WG IIC 24 JAN 44
S/Sgt N. Perovich TG CPT 04 MAR 45 KIEL, SUBYARDS
Sgt Nicholas Perovich also filled in as WG on the Lt Kenneth Dille Crew . Crew flew A/C "The Latest Rumor" SN # 297126
CREW ROSTERS OF 7 MAY 44 (Berlin Mission) AND 11 MAY 44 (Liege Mission) SHOW S/SGT NICHOLAS PEROVICH IN PLACE OF LaMADRID (Lt Dille Crew). S/SGT PEROVICH CPT 04 MAR 45 BRUNSWICK.
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S/Sgt Eckmeyer info
CREW
A/C #42-107233 "Humpty Dumpty" MACR #11356, MICRO-FICHE #4178
2ND LT WALLACE G. WILSON P POW 31 DEC 44 HAMBURG
2ND LT CLARENCE R. VAN CLEAVE CP POW 31 DEC 44 HAMBURG TAPS: 1965
2ND LT KENNETH F. KANE NAV POW 31 DEC 44 HAMBURG
2ND LT SIDNEY L. BREWIN, JR. BOM NOC
CPL PERRY S. GAYE ROG POW 31 DEC 44 HAMBURG
CPL DOUGLAS H. NASH TTE POW 31 DEC 44 HAMBURG TAPS: 1963
CPL AUSTIN P. GIBBON BTG POW 31 DEC 44 HAMBURG
CPL GEORGE P. MONTE WG POW 31 DEC 44 HAMBURG TAPS: 1982
CPL EUGENE M. FELLMETH TG POW 31 DEC 44 HAMBURG
351ST SQDN.. CREW, AS ABOVE, JOINED THE 100TH ON 28 OCT 1944. ON THE HAMBURG MISSION OF 31 DEC 44, LT BREWIN WAS REPLACED BY HERMAN F. ECKMEYER, A TOGGALIER (FROM LT GAY CREW), WHO BECAME A POW.
Letter to Grant Fuller, Executive Vice-President 100th Bomb Group Association, dated June 26, 1991
…We were in the 351st Squadron (by the way, our plane was aptly named Humpty Dumpty) and we went down on December 31, 1944 over Hamburg. To refresh your memory, that was the last big loss for the 100th as we lost, I believe, 14 planes that day. It was also the mission in which the famous crash landing occurred of the two B17's which were stuck together.
On that mission we were without our regular Bombardier, Lee Brewin who had been picked for Lead Crew Training. He was replaced by a Sergeant named Eckmeyer, whose first name I unfortunately do not remember. In any event, that particular day we were bombing Hamburg and we did not have any problems at all until we got in the bomb run and we took a direct hit. The direct hit knocked out electricity and our power and it also knocked out number #1 and 4 which started wind-milling and, because we didn't have power, we were unable to feather them, so we really had a problem in that respect. The Pilot, Wally Wilson of Joplin, Missouri had a load of flak in his left calf and it was obvious right from the beginning that we were not going to fly very much longer so we immediately dropped down to 10,000 feet so that I could put a bandage on Wally's leg and everybody bailed out except Wally and I and our Co-pilot, Roy VanCleave from Memphis, Tennessee. We picked up some ME's and they made two passes at us but on each occasion, Roy VanCleave was able to dump the nose just at the right moment and avoid getting hit by them. It was obvious that the plane wasn't a good place to stay for very long, so I put a chute on Wally and pushed him out and then I went out and then Van trimmed up the plane and went out.
By the way, both Wally and Van are now dead. Wally died about 12 years ago and I understand that he died of bone cancer in his left leg, which is, of course, was the leg that was injured in that particular incident. VanCleave died very young, I think around 42, he had a blood clot and after a minor operation he died.
Anyway, we all bailed out and we all got picked up immediately; they had the old folks watching from the towers. I was locked up in a fire station until I was turned over to the Military later in the day. That night we all were put together at some kind of a Military Facility that was partly hospital, and partly detention center. At that point in time they bandaged up Wally's leg which had been bleeding all day long. Eckmeyer, our Bombardier, also got injured bailing out, because we had to bail out of the front escape hatch with the bomb run doors open. He had a limp and I assume he might still have it. Everybody else got out and they were; reading from top to bottom.
Doug Nash was our Engineer from Seattle, Washington, Doug died 10 or 12 years ago. Our Radio Operator was Perry Gaye; Perry now lives in Tampa and we have seen him on a few occasions. Our Gunner was George Monte from Omaha and later Albuquerque, I understand George has since died. Our Ball Turret Operator was Austin Gibbon from Oakland and as far as I know Austin is still o.k. Our Tail Gunner was Gene Fellmeth from Masillon, Ohio and I understand that Gene is now a Judge in Masillon. As I said, we all got picked up except, for some reason or other, Perry Gaye got away for a week or so and managed to get frost bite as a result of it because this was December in Germany. By the way, I would like to make a note about Dick Rolle who was in our group who was shot down that day in another plane. Dick bailed out on fire and when he showed up that night at the detention facility, he was blind because the fire came up from below. We really had a hard time getting him to believe that we were who we were because he felt that we might have been German Spies planted to convince him that we were Americans and that he would spill something, of course none of us knew anything anyway. In any event, as I understand it, Dick's sight was restored and I think he's o.k. now.
We then went to a interrogation center in a town called Oberosel, outside of Frankfurt. After the interrogation we went to an "in transit" camp near Wetzlar and from there we went to a permanent camp in Barth which was Stalag Luft I up on the Baltic Sea. This is probably around the 8th or 10th of January by the time we got there and we stayed there until the war was over and we were liberated by the Russians on May 8th, 9th, or 10th, somewhere along there, whenever the war ended.
In respect to our treatment by the Germans, we were never abused or mistreated, we simply were under fed as the whole German nation was under-fed at that time. We were going along on 600 calories a day until about late in April, whenever Holy Week was, because that happens to be the week that the Red Cross parcels started to come in and we all had some food for a change; we also had diarrhea for a change….
Kenneth F. Lane - Navigator..
Mr. Faley,
Thank you for taking the time to help me. I never would have found the POW camp information. I should have known to look under Eckmyer (as opposed to Eckmeyer) as somewhere between 1945 and 1949 he dropped the extra "e" in "meyer". Once again that you for everything. We finally have a picture to go along with his name.
Sincerely,
Barbara Eckmeyer
penguinnomore@yahoo.com
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Jack L. Gay
90-year-old Jack L. Gay, of Bartlesville, died Wednesday, September 14. At Mr. Gay's request, there will be no formal funeral service. Final arrangements for Mr. Gay are under the direction of the Neekamp-Luginbuel Funeral Home.
wlgay1@gmail.com
WILLIAM GAY, SON
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