859th BS
Taylor Crew

Standing,L-R:
Murell E.  Hollopeter         - Bombardier        ASN 0694913
Oliver W.  Chapman            - Navigator         ASN 0703698
Donald L.  Taylor             - Pilot             ASN 0199586
Wallace E. Hunt               - Copilot           ASN 0699585

Kneeling,L-R:
Wayne M.   Fisher             - Gunner            ASN 37034402
James P.   McCrory            - R.O.              ASN 38428634
Sygmunt B. Jarosz             - Engineer          ASN 36634906
Jake P.    Suddath            - Gunner            ASN 20407377  (
Orphaned)
John A.    Evans,Jr.          - Gunner            ASN 11105954
Edward     Samuel             - Gunner            ASN 13136136

ASNs so-colored for EMs link to their NARA Enlistment Record.

Picture location identified as Wichita,KS in early 1944. The crew arrived at North Pickenham in mid-May of 1944 as one of the first replacement crews for the daylight 492nd BG and flew 24 missions before the group was disbanded and re-assembled at Harrington in August of that year. They flew eight Carpetbagger missions and five gas-haul missions in September of 1944 before being returned to the ZI in November 1944. Picture, information and names courtesy of James P. McCrory. According to Charles Deano, Hollopeter changed his name after the war.

Preferred Aircraft: B24H 42-95262 D "Varga Belle"

The plane had been flown most of the summer of '44 at Harrington by the Driscoll crew, one of the first of the 788th BS to finish their tour at Harrington. It was flown to Italy on 17 Dec 1944 by the Brandenburg crew.

Additional Crew Data Sources:
Taylor Crew Personnel Files
Taylor Crew Mission Reports

Group-Related Downloads:
AAFRH-21 "AAF Aid to European Resistance"
Allied Leaflets Index
"Carpetbaggers" by Parnell
"They Flew by Night" editor Robert Fish
Serial Number Index of B24s
Station 179 Operations Log 
(handwritten Apr44-Jul45)
Station 179 Operations Log (transcribed Sep44-Jul45)

Available on Request:
Group Mission Reports Jan-Sep44
 (On disk $12ea - $10ea via Paypal)
"Chronology of SOE Operations with the Resistance In France During WWII"
 by Foot & Boxhall
"Spies,Supplies & Moonlit Skies Vols 1&2" by Ensminger 
(On disk $12ea - $10ea via Paypal)

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