Posted By KADE DAHL on October 23, 2005 at 10:03:13:
My Stepfather was a member of the 407th bomb sqd. stationed at podington from 4/23/44 - 8/25/44 although he pasted away on oct. 8, 2005 I am still looking for info please. I have come across a photo of his crew in pyote texas, on the photo all crew names and ranks and aircraft positions are listed also possible aircraft name "happy marie" on the back of the picture he hand wrote his 35 missions with dates. can anyone help me:
1]explain what positions the crew would have occupied in the aircraft.
2]explain why that on the missions written on the back of the picture give name of area bombed,date,the a three digit number(which by the way are random sometime repeating numbers ,would they possibly be ac#'s).
crew:
1]J.C. SMITH T/SGT. - ENGINEER
2]H.L. SWORDS T/SGT. - RADIO OPERATOR
3]W.L. VANCE S/SGT. - AE(?)
4]R.W. DIRKS S/SGT. - AAE(?)
5]V. VESPE 1ST.(?)- PILOT
6]V.L. GRIM 2ND(?)- COPILOT
7]H. WEISS 2ND(?)- BOMBADIER
8]R.O. BUNCH 2ND(?)- NAVIGATOR
9]C.G. RUTHENBURG SGT -AR(?)F.O.(?)
10]W.O. ALEXIS SGT -AAR(?)
ALSO AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PICTURE IS LABLED "VESPES VIPERS"HEADSET.
THE RANDOM NUMBERS LISTED ON THE BACK OF THE PHOTO WITH THE MISSIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
110
461
681
408
335
335
984
426
326
245
408
765
120
765
546
326
426
426
090
546
335
M.S.
054
546
054
054
054
872
872
872
THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY HELP IN ADVANCE ALSO IF ANYONE NEEDS MORE INFO PLEASE POST IT ON THE MESSAGE BOARD. KADE