They were at Harrington for a short period in August of
1944 for training purposes. Originally a ferry crew, they were then sent to
Leuchars, Scotland to fly with Bernt Balchen’s "Ball Operation" before returning
to Harrington in October of 1944. Each flew a minimum of nine combat missions at
Leuchars, dropping supplies to the Norwegian Resistance. When the operation was
cancelled they returned to Harrington on orders from the 2nd Bomb Division.
William Alexander kept a small diary which describes a number of his missions
while at Leuchars, later at Harrington during the night-bombing period, and into
the very late "insertion" missions of German turncoat agents into Austria flown
out of Dijon, France. Picture here provided by Gene French, son of Marlen
French, taken at Wichita, KS before overseas movement:
Standing, L-R: Marlen M. French - Bombardier ASN 0717052
Clyde R. Sinclair - Navigator ASN 0717278 George Bledsoe,Jr. - Pilot ASN 0701867
James W. Pastella - Copilot ASN T-64934
Kneeling, L-R: Leonard I. Robock
- R.O. ASN
16056697 Kenneth H. Williams - Waist Gunner ASN 39282279 Blaine A. Davis - Gunner ASN
31318242 William H. Alexander - Engineer ASN
34728107 John H. Franklin - Gunner ASN
33719353 George C. Raffel - Dispatcher ASN
32366899 Not shown above: Marvin C. Smith -
Gunner ASN
37675305
ASNsso-colored
for EMs link to their NARA Enlistment Records.
Two other pictures have been turned in, both following the DOCTOR mission in
April of 1945.
Back row,L-R:
Franklin
Raffel
Alexander
Robock
Davis
Front row,L-R:
Milton
Shapiro - Intelligence Officer ASN 0573332
Bledsoe
Pastella
French
Sinclair
Hartley
