Personnel

CREW



2nd Lt Owen K.Griffith         P   FEH

2nd Lt John W.Wilson,Jr.    CP   FEH

2nd Lt James T.Brand      NAV     KIC ( Lt W. D. Pratt was pilot-Buried Cambridge cemetary) SEE BELOW 

 S/Sgt Richard W.Perras     TG   FEH

   Cpl James R.Gladden      WG  FEH

   Cpl Russell P.Johnson    ROG    FEH

   Cpl Everett S.White      BTG    FEH

   Cpl Walter M.Lovvorn     NG     FEH

   Cpl Stanley J.Kurnik      TTE     FEH



418th Sqdn.  Crew,as above,joined the 100th Group on 18/2/45



Letter received from O.K.Griffith Jan.1985 says this crew flew  nine missions with the 100th. He mentions as Bombardier one Allen Glaskin and a Bob Gladden as Waist Gunner.  



Griffith adds that "Troy Brand was killed in a training accident at Thorpe Abbotts on May 12, 1945."  This would have been four days after V-E day and Brand is shown as FEH (flying at end of hostilities) in most records.  



Owen K. Griffith crew mission information,KNOWN

(combat missions)

08 MARCH 45    LANGENDEER/GIESSEN  GRIFFITH    616  Z   HS  47        A-SQDN,HIGH FLGT #2

09 MARCH 45    FRANKFURT                  GRIFFITH    616  Z  HS 47         C-SQDN, LEAD FLGT, ELEMENT 2, # 3

18 MARCH 45   BERLIN                         GRIFFITH    994  D   HS 37         A-SQDN, LEAD FLGT,ELEMENT 2, # 3

19 MARCH 45   FULDA/JENA                  GRIFFITH    636  W  HS 49        C-SQDN, LOW FLGT, TEC (tail end charle)

23 MARCH 45   UNNA/MABURG              GRIFFITH    821  O  HS R/W04   A-SQDN,ELEMENT 2, #2

 

practice mission,combat mission scrubbed

19 APRIL 45    HENSEY   GRIFFITH    790  V  HS 50   D-SQDN  LEAD

 

practice mission

25 APRIL 45   LILIENQUIST GRIFFITH   916  R  PFF   HS 32  C-SQDN  LEAD

 

Chowhound missions

 

5 MAY 45   HENSEY  GRIFFITH   794  B  PFF    HS 40   D-SQDN LEAD

7 MAY 45   GRIFFITH    794  B  PFF     HS 40   D-SQDN LEAD

 

GREEN SUPPORT MISSION  ( troop ferry,N.AFRICA)

 

4 JUNE 45    GRIFFITH    183  Q   HS 43   B-SQDN  LEAD

 

BANJO MISSION   (troop ferry)

 

22 JUNE 45    GRIFFITH     200   O   HS 36   

 

 

KNOWN AIRCRAFT FLOWN

 

43-37994   LN-D  "My Blue Heaven"

43-37636   LD-W "Malfuction Junction"

44-8183    LD-Q   PFF

44-8616    LD-Z

44-8790    LD-V

44-8794    LD-B   PFF

44-8916    LN-R   PFF





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CREW



    F/O George D.Sharpe       P       FEH      CREW FLYING AT END OF HOSTILITIES

    F/O John L.Sanders          CP     FEH

    F/O John J.Scott             NAV   FEH

2nd Lt Allen Glaskin              BOM   FEH (Trained with Lt Keith Griffith Crew for Lead Bombardier)

    Sgt Alfred Skeeters          TTE   FEH

    Sgt George E.Engelhorn     BTG    FEH

    Sgt Edward R.Smith           ROG   FEH

    Cpl Lionel B.Davis               WG   FEH

    Cpl John D.Gray                 TG   FEH



418th Sqdn. Crew,as above, joined the 100th Group on 30/3/45



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CREW



2ND LT WADE D. PRATT             P IIC 12 MAY 45  CRASHED DISS - ATTLEBORO RD.

2ND LT HAROLD L. RINTOUL      CP IIC 12 MAY 45  CRASHED DISS - ATTLEBORO RD.

2ND LT JAMES T. BRAND       NAV KIC 12 MAY 45  CRASHED DISS - ATTLEBORO RD.

S/Sgt VINCENT FERRANICE         ROG IIC 12 MAY 45  CRASHED DISS - ATTLEBORO RD.

   CPL ANTHONY SZOTT           TTE IIC 12 MAY 45  CRASHED DISS - ATTLEBORO RD.

   CPL ROBERT G. GUIDI            BTG IIC 12 MAY 45  CRASHED DISS - ATTLEBORO RD.





418th Sqdn.. Crew joined 100th on 21 Jan 1945

Crew flew A/C 43-38821 LD-O "Girdle Girty" call sign "Rubber Oboe"  and also "Lay or Bust" 



On 12 may 45 Pratt, Rintoul, Szott, Guidi, S/Sgt VINCENT FERRANICE and 2nd Lt James T. Brand took off from Thorpe Abbotts in A/C #44-6790 on a night transition flight in the local area. Weather worsened, while the tower tried for 1 hour and twenty minutes before contacting the crew. When contact was established Pratt was advised to attempt a landing, the aircraft struck a tree and crashed about five miles W/NW of the base on the Diss - Attleboro Road. Brand was KIC and all the others IIC.  The aircraft was destroyed.

                                                                    --Records from Norton AFB 17 May 85….James R. Brown, Historian to pw (June 1991)



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Hello,



My Dad, Everett S. White 34 678 911, entered the US Army Air Corp Aug 9, 1943-discharded Dec 26, 1945.  He never discussed much of his military career. 



He was a B17 BTG with the 100th Bomb Group, 418th Bomb Squadron, stationed at Thorpe Abbotts.  The records from the Foundation show him with the Owen “Keith” Griffith Crew.  I have a picture, that I assume he send to my Mother at arrival in England that shows him and crew standing in front of Yankee Girl 448256.  I can also match the picture in 100th BG web site with the George D. Sharpe crew, but the crew members are different and the BTG is Richard J. White.  In that picture, my Dad is second from the right.





My Dad’s military records were destroyed in a fire at the Personnel Records Office in 1973.  They reconstructed his name, rank, and serial number, but that is it.



Can you provide any help in gaining more information?





Thank you,

Richard S. White

heartbarw@embarqmail.com