Personnel

CREW



1st Lt Albert F.Amiero         P   KIA   6/3/44  BERLIN

F/O Howard L.Kilmer         CP  KIA   6/3/44  BERLIN

2nd Lt Albert P.Rule       NAV  KIA   6/3/44  BERLIN (from Lt. Leon Morgan Crew)

S/Sgt Thomas S.Elliott   TOG  KIA   6/3/44  BERLIN

T/Sgt John J.Kovacs      ROG  KIA   6/3/44  BERLIN (original 100th air echelon)

T/Sgt Russell G.Gilbert    TTE  KIA   6/3/44  BERLIN (from original Lt Amiero Crew)

S/Sgt Virgil F.Summers      BTG  KIA   6/3/44  BERLIN (from Lt Ford Crew)

S/Sgt Hobart H.Spires      WG  KIA   6/3/44  BERLIN (from original Sammy Barr Crew)

S/Sgt Owen D.Stockton  WG  POW  6/3/44  BERLIN (from Lt J.W. Brown Crew)

S/Sgt Thomas D.Baer         TG  KIA    6/3/44  BERLIN (from Lt Victor Reed Crew)



349th Sqdn.   See MACR #3019 (Micro fiche #1021).  Flying A/C #42 31731 on 6/3/44



This appears to be a "pick up" crew. Kilmer joined tne 100th on 26/2/44 as 

an indlvidual. Baer was from the original crew of V.Reed. Kovacs was a 

"spare" on original 100th Air echelon. Stockton was from the crew of 

J.W.Brown. Hobart Spires was from the original crew of Sam L. Barr.

A.P.Rule on original crew of Leon R.Morgan. Summers on original crew

of Lt George Ford.





CREW

2ND LT GEORGE W. FORD                 P POW 26 NOV 43 BREMEN (with Lt Ear Williams Crew, see note below)

2ND LT AMERICUS V. COMBS             CP XFER 482ND (PFF) 26 NOV 43

2ND LT GLENN M. LASHBROOK        NAV XFER 482ND (PFF) 26 NOV 43

2ND LT NATHAN COOPER             BOM XFER 482ND (PFF) 26 NOV 43

S/SGT GEORGE N, OFEISH             ROG POW 4 MAR 44 BERLIN (with Lt Seaton Crew, see below)

S/SGT JOHN J. MURPHY                 TTE XFER 482ND (PFF) 26 NOV 43

   SGT KENNTH C. STROUGH          BTG XFER 482ND (PFF) 26 NOV 43

   SGT VIRGIL F. SUMMERS             WG KIA   6 MAR 44 BERLIN (with Lt A.F. AMIERO CREW)

   SGT JACK KOSSIN                    WG XFER 482ND (PFF) 26 NOV 43

   SGT JOHN P. WILLIAMS               TG XFER 482ND (PFF) 26 NOV 43



349th Sqdn. Crew, as above, arrived 349th sqdn. 12 Sep 1943 according to Glenn Lashbrook. He also states that a day or two after arriving, Lt George Ford was demoted to a copilot and replaced as first pilot on the Crew by Lt Charles A. Brooks from the Crew of Lt Victor Reed (see below). Lt Ford was shot down with the Crew of Lt Earl Williams (see note below)  



1ST LT  VICTOR REED                           P:               TRANSFERRED FROM 100TH

F/O CHARLES A. BROOKS     CP:  CPT,  16/12/43  BREMEN

2ND LT  HOWARD D. BASSETT          NAV:  CPT,  14 JAN 44 FORET D' HESDIN

2ND LT  JOSEPH P. ARMANINI          BOM:  CPT,  DATE & MISSION UNKNOWN

T/SGT   GLENN N. ALBRIGHT               TTE:  CPT,  14 JAN 44 FORET D' HESDIN

S/SGT   RICHARD O. DETWEILER        WG:  CPT, 13 FEB 44 LIVOSSART

T/SGT   JAMES S. DOUGHERTY         ROG:  CPT,  DATE & MISSION UNKNOWN

S/SGT   RICHARD M. PRICE                BTG:  NOC

S/SGT   THOMAS D. BAER            WG:  KIA,  6 MAR 44 BERLIN WITH LT ALBERT AMIERO CREW

S/SGT   CLIFFORD T. MINER                  TG:  NOC



349th Sqdn.  This is an "Original" crew that flew over with the group. 

Charlie Brooks became 1st pilot on the Lt George W. Ford Crew and 

completed the tour.



MISSIONS OF 1ST LT. CHARLES A. BROOKS WITH CREW #37 (Copilot Lt Combs)





 DATE  MISSION  A/C # & NAME





12. 23/09/43 VANNES  25861 LADEN MAIDEN

13. 26/09/43 PARIS   25861 LADEN MAIDEN

14. 27/09/43 EMDEN  25861 LADEN MAIDEN

15. 02/10/43 EMDEN  230088 SQUAWKIN HAWK

16. 04/10/43 SAARLUIS, HANAU 230088 SQUAWKIN HAWK

17. 20/10/43 DUREN

18. 03/11/43 WILHELMSHAVEN 

19. 05/11/43 GELSENKIRCHEN

20. 07/11/43 DUREN

21. 13/11/43 BREMEN

22. 16/11/43 RJUKAN, NORWAY 



 



WARTIME DIARY OF GLENN  M. LASHBROOK (NAV. ON LT FORD CREW)



June 19, 1943

 Graduated Mather Field, Calif. -- Class of 43-9 and given 10 day delay and 3 days travel time before reporting to first duty station.



July 2, 1943

 Reported to 330th Bombardment Group, Biggs Field, El Paso, Texas - - Group did not need any navigators.



July 4, 1943 

 Re-assigned and reported to 333rd Bomb Gp, Dalhart Air Force Base, Dalhart, Texas.



July 5, 1943

 Assigned to 466th Bomb Gp Squadron, Savoie Provisional Group as Navigator on Lt George Ford's crew, flying B-17s. Crew was then near end of second phase of it's training.





August 17, 1943

 Left Dalhart for Scott Field, Illinois after having 8 day leave, which was spent in Santa Ana, Calif. With Barbara. (Wife of Glenn Lashbrook)



August 22, 1943

 Left Scott Field for Dow Field, Bangor, Maine after completion of staging. Day before leaving, Mom, Dad, Irene, Richard, Isabel and Allan came down and we drove to St. Louis..Flying time to Dow Field: 6½ hours.



August 25, 1943

 Left Dow Field for Goose Bay, Laborador. Uneventful flight of 4½ hours. Pilot did let-down on Goose Bay radio because of heavy undercast and the country looked very green and beautiful when we broke through. Goose Bay is a combination American - Canadian field, many different uniforms were in evidence. The BOQ was very good.

August 26, 1943

 Left Goose Bay for Bluie West One on Greenland. Shot one sun line, the only celestial work on the whole trip, the rest DR from a flight plan with use of radio beams for course corrections. Arrived at Bluie West One, a small field at the end  of a fjord, and all the enlisted men crowded into the nose for a good look. We received orders to proceed to Meeks Field, Iceland. Arrived Meeks Field after 10 hours in the air and it was dark so the lights were a welcome sight.



August 27, 1943

 Flew from Meeks Field to Prestwick, Scotland by way of Stonoway, an uneventful 4 hour flight. Used Air Transport Command's book on the trip across and it provided great circle courses, distances, and variation so that it was only necessary to apply metro data to figure a flight plan.



August 28, 1943

 Reported to Combat Crew Replacement Center No. #11 Bovingdon, near London after an all night trip from Scotland on the train.



September 12, 1943

 Reported to the 100th Bombardment Group at Thorpe Abbotts near Diss. Norfolk. Assigned to the 349th Bombardment Squadron. Commanding Officer, Major Veal. Crew given a new first pilot, F/O Charles Brooks.



September 23, 1943

 Flew as spare on raid to Vannes, France. Couldn't find group and returned to base from Portland Bill. Given credit for a combat mission through a clerical error.



September 24, 1943

 On blind -- bombing practice mission over the North Sea. Were led too close to the Frisian Islands and ME-109s and FW-190s attacked the formation catching it completely off guard. 100th lost one ship (Gossage) and half the crew drowned when jumping into water. British E-Boat happened to be passing to raid the Dutch Coast and took five survivors with them.



September 26, 1943

 Mission to Paris. Unable to bomb due to heavy undercast and jettisoned bombs in English Channel. Saw first flak from Amiens and Abbeville.



September 27, 1943

 Mission to Emden. Flew on left wing of Col. Harding who was in a Pathfinder ship -- we were second ship over target. P-47 support very effective and saw no enemy fighters, although some ships in succeeding combat wings were lost. Bombing results were not too good, but mission was a great success for first long range support of fighters.



October 2, 1943

 Emden again. Not in such good position and encountered fighter opposition. Didn't get to bombing altitude until reaching I.P.



October 4, 1943

 Started to Frankfurt but never found it and bombed Saarlautern by mistake. Lead Navigator brought us back by way of Paris but weren't fired at. Reached England in a very lost condition.



October 9, 1943

 Mission to Marienberg in East Prussia. Flew with Magee Fuller as first pilot and were in the air 11 hours, but never over 13,000 feet. Focke-Wolf assembly plant almost completely destroyed - considered a most outstanding job of precision bombing. When the 100th reached the target huge columns of smoke were rising, but groups incendiaries missed target anyhow.



October 20, 1943

 Mission to Duren, Germany. Flew as high as 30,000 feet to rise above 10/10 cloud cumulo-Nimbus clouds above the Continent. Was very miserable from bends. Flak holes in ship.



November 3, 1943

 Pathfinder mission to Wilhelmshaven. Good results.



November 5, 1943

 Pathfinder mission to Gelsenkirchen in Ruhr Valley. Missed target completely. Encountered heavy flak and got small holes in wings.  



November 7, 1943

 Pathfinder mission to Duren



November 13, 1943

 Pathfinder mission to Bremen. Equipment in lead ship went out and finally crossed unto Denmark near Island of Sylt. Turned back and encountered considerable fighter opposition. Jettisoned bombs in North Sea. Came back single ship with new crew on our right wing. Terrific headwinds so did considerable sweating before English Coast was sighted. Did a lousy job of navigating and was glad to get a QDM from the base.



November 16, 1943

 Raid on power station at Rjukan, Norway, a ten hour mission. Led second element in lead squadron. Capt Barr led group (The 100th was led by Owen "Cowboy" Roane on this mission)    Capt Payne "Bubbles" and Capt Peel were lead Navigator and Bombardier and both did excellent jobs and the mission was a success. Forced to climb to 18,000 feet just off English Coast to go above a front upon returning.



November 26, 1943

 Day after Thanksgiving. Moved from the 100th to the 482nd Bomb Gp at Alconbury, Huntingdonshire. Assigned to the 812th Squadron to learn "Mickey" system (H2X)  of Pathfinder navigation. Lt Flesh became first pilot of the old 100th crew.    



Note



CREW



2ND LT GEORGE W. FORD  P POW 26 NOV 43 BREMEN

2ND LT JEAN B. PITNER  CP EVA 26 NOV 43 BREMEN (see lettter below)

2ND LT ARNO E. PILISCHKE  NAV EVA 26 NOV 43 BREMEN

2ND LT ARTHUR G. BODEI  BOM POW 26 NOV 43 BREMEN

T/SGT MAX S. NEWMAN  ROG KIA 26 NOV 43 BREMEN

T/SGT ANDREW F. HATHAWAY TTE EVA 26 NOV 43 BREMEN

S/SGT GEORGE E. JONES  BTG KIA 26 NOV 43 BREMEN

S/SGT LEO J. BIANCHI  WG POW 26 NOV 43 BREMEN

S/SGT CARL G. GLASMEIER  WG POW 26 NOV 43 BREMEN

S/SGT DENTON L., KING  TG POW 26 NOV 43 BREMEN



349th Sqdn. Crew, as above, apparently joined the 100th Group in Nov 1943 as this is believed to be their first mission. Crews Original pilot was Lt Earl Williams.   MACR # 1394, Microfiche # 464, A/C # 42-31215



EYEWITNESS: A/C # 215 was hit in # 2 engine when two FW 190s attacked the low squadron at 1045 hrs. Fell out of formation and dived for cloud cover.  E/A followed but P-47s came to the rescue.  A/C was seen from time to time flying below the formation.  At 1048 hrs one chute was seen and at 1103 hrs nine more chutes were seen. At 1105 hrs it hit the ground and exploded, near 49 32N and 02 00E.  During the last few minutes of flight fire spread over the entire left wing.



That Pitner % Plischke were successful evadees is evidenced by signing a report to the Adjutent General's office dated 5 Feb 44.  This same report indicates Andrew Hathaway also returned to duty also evading. The record for Denton King is not clear; he may have been an evadee rather than a POW.

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This is remains some difficulty in determining G.W Ford's role with this crew.  (Letter to Jim Brown from Jean Pitner regarding this matter follows..



                                            



Dear Jim: ( 26 November 1990)



Forty seven years ago today, I was shot down.  Twenty seven days before that I signed in at the 100th. First, let me answer your specific question regarding Earl Williams and George Ford.  Earl was first pilot on my crew. I met him, as well as my navigator and bombardiar, at Walla Walla, Washington.  Earl was an "old timer".  He had been an enlisted radio operator in Hawaii before the peacetime draft and during the attack of December 7, 1941.  When I met him he was a 1st Lt., married and no children.  The rest of us had just graduated from flying schools; in my case "travel time" from Blackland AAB, Waco, Texas, to Moses Lake, Washington, then on to Walla Walla.



Earl and I flew a couple of local flights after we arrived at the 100th.  He, as well as all of the crew (except me), flew combat missions shortly after we arrived at the 100th. Each of them flew with different crews at different times as substitutes on various crews



Our crew was scheduled to fly together for the first time on 26 November 1943.  I was not included.  An experienced multi missioned pilot would "check out the crew and sign off Earl as combat ready.  I do not know what happened during the night to change the plans, but I was awakened early in the morning and told that I would fly and Earl would not.  Earl was as surprised as I.



I met George Ford at briefing.  He was a captain, said very little, mentioned that he had flown fourteen (I think) missions. He also told me that this was a good starting mission for me (my first) and that it would be a "piece of cake" and a "milk run". The last time I saw George was as we were bailing out. I never believed, nor was I told, that George was a "new crew member" who would continue to fly with us.  I thought he was sort of a "check ride" for a new crew.  So much for George now back to Earl. The last time I saw Earl was when he came to London to make a personal identification of me for Army Intelligence. I recall that Earl had changed.  I thought he was "flak happy", and for a little while I thought he either did not know me, or would not make the identification.  He did, but the intelligence officers weren't satisfied.  Intelligence demanded two other officers from the 100th to come and make the identification. To shorten this phase, Intelligence had to accept Earl's ID because there were no officers in the 100th who knew me!

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Mike

Thanks for your prompt response.  I didn't necessarily want to mention

it first, but I have considered the "innuendo" you refer to and am

looking down that alley - so to speak.  As an Air Force pilot for 30

years and also as a group commander, I thought about the word furlough

and a female's name.  I suspect that Furlough Myrtle may have been a

character ion some kind of anti-VD campaign and/or training program -

posters, hand-outs, etc.  Kind of like the warning about meeting Myrtle

on furlough and catching the gift that keeps on giving.  That would

explain the same picture along with the name on four different aircraft

in four different groups over about a three year period.  The innuendo

come in when Furlough Myrtle is going to give the Germans a "dose" of

bombs.  I've got a contact at Walter Reed who is looking back into some

of their old "contagious disease" material to see if Myrtle might be

there.



As far as Virgil is concerned, I'd truly appreciate as much information

as may be available.  I got a great deal of info from the Air Power

Research Center at Maxwell when I was there TDY on numerous trips, but

there's always more to learn.  I actually gave a brief presentation on

some of that info and how to get to it at the 100th Bomb Group reunion

here in St Louis in 1991 when I was the operations group commander here

at Scott AFB.  I also got to fly from St Louis over to Scott with Dave

aboard his Memphis Belle and got to fly her down the Mississippi and

over to turning final at Scott.  A great thrill!  When I retired, the

flight records put 45 minutes of flying time in a B-17 into my official

USAF flight records.



The MACR for that aircraft indicated that Owen Stockton was captured.

He had gone back to man the tail gun after the tail gunner was mortally

wounded.  I talked with his widow and she recalled the circumstance of

the aircraft blowing up, the tail section becoming detached, and Mr.

Stockton spending all but a couple of the remaining months of the war in

a hospital for a broken back.  I can relate that to you in detail if you

wish.



Thanks again for your prompt and courteous response and also thanks in

advance for any/all additional information you may be able to provide.



Sincerely



Craig  





CRAIG L. KOONTZ

Contractor Support to USTC-PA

(618) 229-4746 (DSN 779)





-----Original Message-----

From: MPFaley@aol.com [mailto:MPFaley@aol.com] 

Sent: Friday, February 15, 2008 4:46 PM

To: Koontz, Craig CTR USTRANSCOM PA

Cc: charlie@100thbg.com; cindy@100thbg.com

Subject: Re: 100th BG WEB CONTACT



Dear Craig,

Ok, maybe I can shed some light on this and maybe you can help us too.

Virgil had 10 missions flying with his original Crew (1st Pilot was Lt

Charles Brooks since Lt Ford was taken off the crew for a while but

returned to flying status).  After those missions, most of the crew was

moved to 482nd Bomb Group for Pathfinder training.  Virgil at that point

ended up in the Spare gunners pool and would have flown missions as a

"fill in" when someone was sick or KIA on a crew.  I am in the process

of finishing a book on March 6, 1944 mission to Berlin and very little

is know about the circumstances around their demise other than the MACR

and Casualty Reports.  As for Furlough Myrtle", the aircraft they are in

front of is a stateside training B-17 and was not assigned to this crew

overseas.  As for the Character, I do not see any particular radio

character or cartoon character this is based on but I see more innuendo

involved here than anything.  As a 349th BS crew, they could have flown

a variety of planes assigned to that squadron during that time.  Hard to

determine Unless you have any kind of Log that Virgil may have kept?

Would like to get a list of missions he flew and any other info.  



Michael Faley

100th Bomb Group Historian 





In a message dated 2/15/2008 1:56:05 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,

Craig.Koontz.ctr@ustranscom.mil writes:



    

    Hello

    I'm researching a 100th bomb group member who was a family

member, SSgt Virgil Summers (BTG on the pick-up Amerio crew) , KIA 6 Mar

44.  His original crew was the Ford crew and their aircraft was named

"Furlough Myrtle." (picture attached)  I've been able to locate four

different aircraft (3 B-17s and 1 B-24) in various bomb groups in the

ETO with that name and the exact same nose art picture.  That leads me

to believe that "Furlough Myrtle" was some kind of character that was

known by the troops.  

    

    My question:  Who (or what) was Furlough Myrtle?

    

    Thanks in advance for any information you may be able to provide

on Furlough Myrtle.

    

    Cheers

    Craig

    

    CRAIG L. KOONTZ

    Colonel, USAF (Ret)

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