Photos for Crews: 828th Squadron

Photos for Crews: 829th Squadron

Photos for Crews: 830th Squadron

Photos of Crews: 831st Squadron

Headquarters Photos

Miscellaneous Photos

Staff photo-829th Sqdn

This is a photo of some of the 829th Squadron staff.  Major Phil Cummings is kneeling, second from the left.  The others are not identified.

 

Allan crew-829th Sqdn-Replacement crew

Front Row, Left to Right:  R.W. Gurham, bombardier; Mentor Metaxas, navigator; Lloyd Allan, pilot, and Don Blair, copilot.  Back Row, Left to Right:  Cy Kaplan, waist gunner; Alvin Butti, top gunner; Carroll Johnson, waist gunner; Robert Thompson, tail gunner; William Sanders, nose gunner, and James Ridout, ballgunner. Allan’s original aircraft was named Little Walt, after his son.  They began flying missions in August ,1944.  Blair was wounded in the neck on the 2/16/45 mission to Regensburg.  On the 3/22/45 mission to Vienna, Allan was flying lead with Colonel Cornett, the group commander, and they were shot down by flak, landing near the Russian lines.  Those from Allan's crew who were shot down that day were Ridout, Sanders, Thompson, Mataxas and Allan.  Kaplan, Blair, Gurham, Butti, and Johnson weren’t on the mission to Vienna and completed their missions in April 1945.

 

 Barnes crew-829th Sqdn-Replacement crew

Front Row, Left to Right:  Steve Barnes, pilot; James Walser, copilot; A.C. Grover, navigator and Joe Cramer, bombardier.  Back Row, Left to Right:  Ed Schiller, radio operator; Willis Muir, gunner; William McCarthy, flight engineer; Bob Burling, top turret gunner; Joe Blasberg, nose gunner, and Louis Padilla, gunner.  This replacement crew survived the war. 

 

 

Barnett crew-829th Sqdn-Replacement crew

This is believed to be James Barnett with his crew.  Barnett is believed to be a very early replacement pilot in the 829th Squadron, flying for a while with Lt. Hugh White before White was shot down.  The only person positively identified in this photo is Thomas Petersen, a gunner.  On June 26, 1944, the following men are known to have been flying with Barnett:  Glenn Allison, gunner; James Barnett, pilot; William Campbell, bombardier; George Coleman, radio operator; John Guido, engineer; Raymond Lukassweski, tail gunner; William Meseki, copilot; Joseph Perkosski, ball gunner; Thomas Petersen, gunner, and Walter Sjoquist, navigator.  It is likely some of these men are in this photo.

 

Bobier crew-829th Sqdn-Original crew #29

Front Row, Left to Right:  Mel Matthews, copilot; Dick Doyle, bombardier; Bob Bobier, pilot; and John Hannum, navigator.  Standing, Left to Right:  Leonard Lesch, nosegunner, Sgt. Ted Lurker, crew chief; Sgt MacDowl, asst. crew chief; George Chesterton, radio operator/waist gunner; Bennett Karoly, waist gunner; Christopher Sideratos, flight engineer/top gunner; John Palmer, ballgunner, Charles Dameron, tailgunner. The photo of the crew was taken prior to the flight overseas.  Their assigned plane and the plane in the photo is D’Rape Shape.  Lesch went overseas on the Hamilton and was killed when the ship was sunk by enemy aircraft.  Sgt. Harold D. Jones then became the nosegunner on the crew, having lost his crew when his crew crashed into the mountains in Africa on their way overseas.  The crew, (except for Matthews) went down on 6/23/44 on a mission to Guirgiu, Romania.  Major Walter Smith was flying in Matthews’ place.  This crew became POW’s in Bulgaria and all survived. 

 

Boehme crew-829th Sqdn-Replacement crew

Only three of the crew have been identified in this photo.  Lt. Weintritt, bombardier, is kneeling on the left.  Harold Oliver, nose gunner, is standing, far left and next to him is Elvis Waisath, flight engineer.  The other men on the crew are:  Richard Boehme, pilot; Merwin Jacobson, copilot; Bob Bishop Navigator; Abe Goldman, radio operator; Ken Lohr, ball gunner, and Bob Brown, tail gunner. This replacement crew was shot down on October 16, 1944, returning from a mission to Graz, Austria.  Bill Culver, from Lozito’s crew, was flying with them as the top turret gunner.  Jacobson, Oliver and Waisath were killed.  Lohr, Oliver, Goldman and Brown became POWs. Culver was captured, but escaped and made it back to Italy.  Bishop and Boehme were picked up by the Partisans and returned safely to Italy.  Boeme continued flying and was shot down again over Yugoslavia on November 17, 1944, returning from Blechhammer.  He was picked up by the Partisans and made it back to Italy.  He was shot down a third time on February 16, 1945, flying with Colonel Tomhave, returning from Regensburg.  This time he was killed.

 

Bond crew-829th Sqdn-Original crew #33

The individual members of this crew, not identified in the photograph, are:  Elliot Altshuler, nosegunner; Roy Anderson, waist gunner; John Bond, pilot; Joseph Duffield, navigator; Albert Homan, copilot; Albert Knott, flight engineer; Clarence Nippes, radio operator; Edward Sawyer, bombardier; Thomas Toot, tail gunner and William Whorton, ball gunner. This crew was shot down by fighters on the June 9, 1944 mission to Munich.  Knott, Nippes and Whorton were killed and the others survived the war as POWs.

 

Cameron crew-829th Sqdn-Replacement crew

Front Row, Left to Right:  Wilson F. Leon, waist gunner; Homer E. Jones, radio operator; Orville Kingsberg, nose gunner; Edward J. Czakoczi, ball gunner; Reginal R. Lyons, tail gunner, and James W. Dixon, engineer.  Back Row, Left to Right:  James B. Cameron, pilot; Alex E. Vroblewsky, copilot; William F. McLean, bombardier, and William M. Meeks, navigator. This crew was an early replacement crew in the 829th Squadron.  On 9/24/44 the crew was shot down over Salonika, Greece.  R.V. Burling was flying in Dixon’s place that day.  Cameron managed to evade capture and subsequently made his way back to Italy.  The other members of the crew were captured by the Germans and taken north.  While enroute, they managed to escape and were rescued by the Chetniks, eventually going to Sofia, Bulgaria.  They returned to Italy on 12/24/44.  Dixon was killed on 2/16/45 while flying with Colonel Tomhave on a mission to Regensburg.

 

Carlin crew-829th Sqdn-Replacement crew

Front Row, Left to right:  Wayne Wolfe, copilot; J.C. Carlin, pilot, and Elmer Schauer, bombardier.  Back Row, Left to Right:  Salvatore Lobello, radio operator; Norman Fessler, ball gunner; Barry Davis, top gunner; Tim Bristol, flight engineer; Francis Carr, nose gunner, and John VanderDries, tail gunner.  Missing from the photo is John Dontley, navigator. This crew arrived at Venosa in August 1944. 

 

Cathcart crew-829th Sqdn-Original crew #35

Front Row, Left to Right:  Donald Roehn, bombardier; Joseph Cathcart, pilot; Slayton McGhee, copilot, and Arthur Carlson, navigator.  Back Row, Left to Right:  Allen McBride, tail gunner; Dewey Halcomb, ball gunner; Leon Best, nose gunner; Marvin Lindsay, radio operator/waistgunner; Roh Mehrkens, flight engineer/waist gunner, and Irvin Wolf, top gunner. This crew was shot down by fighters on the June 9, 1944 mission to Munich.  McBride was killed, but the others made it safely out of the aircraft and became POWs.

 

Cline crew-829th Sqdn-Replacement crew

Front Row, Left to Right:  Leigh Donache, copilot: Harold Cline, pilot; Lloyd Edwards, bombardier, and Thomas McCune, navigator.  Back Row, Left to Right:  Albert Slackway, ball gunner; Joseph Accurso, flight engineer; James Feeley, radio operator; Jesse Roberts, nose gunner; John Ricker tail gunner, and Ernest Jackson, top gunner. This crew arrived in Venosa during the summer of 1944.  Most of the grew completed 50 missions. 

 

Cummings crew-829th Sqdn-Replacement crew

Major Philip Cummings is seen standing on the far left of this photo.  The others on this crew have not been identified.  Cummings became the Operations Officer for the 829th Squadron and was killed in an accident on March 8, 1945 when an emergency life raft broke loose in flight and became entangled in the tail.  Several others on the plane were also killed. 

 

 

Daniel crew-829th Sqdn-Original crew #36

Front Row, Left to Right:  Edward Beecham, copilot; Roy Daniel, pilot; Layton Tuggle, navigator, and Steven Simmerman, bombardier.  Back Row, Left to Right:  Frank Jasso, flight engineer; Daniel Hagerty, ball gunner; David Phillips, gunner; E.H. Braziel, tail gunner, and Mack Lundy, radio operator.  Missing from the photo is Otis Gammon, nose gunner. The crew was shot down on the May 29, 1944 mission to Vienna.  This was considered the first entire crew from the group lost to enemy action.  The entire crew bailed out over Yugoslavia and survived the war as POWs.

 

Duecker crew-829th Sqdn-Original crew #25

Front Row, Left to Right:  Keith Foster, bombardier, Charles Duecker, pilot; Alexander Malkoski, copilot, and Robert Bricker, navigator.  Back Row, Left to Right:  John Johnson, flight engineer; William Helton, gunner; Jules Dursse, radio operator; Charles Herman, gunner; Pierre Doris, gunner, and Roy Gatts, gunner. Keith Foster was killed on the July 30, 1944 mission to Budapest, while flying with another crew, believed to be Lt. Wodzinski’s crew.  The rest of the crew completed their missions.  Their assigned plane was Little Emma, 42-78136G, YD.

 

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