36th BS
Williams Crew

The first full crew to be lost, they collided with a mountain over the UK on the night of 26/27 December 1943, flying a training mission in a newly modified B-24D (42-40474). The crash site was near Widecombe in Devon, United Kingdom.

Only six of those killed are in this picture, as it was taken at Dunkeswell,UK, sometime previous to the Group reassignment to Alconbury. The aircraft pictured here (Slightly Dangerous), has the typical ASW paint scheme, quite different from the all-black planes the Group would later fly.

Standing,L-R:
Milton L.  Remling     - Navigator           ASN 0600520  (DNB)
Robert L.  Williams    - Pilot               ASN 0431584  (
DNB)
Joseph W.  Hanley      - Copilot             ASN 0533307  (
DNB)  
Charles R. Teer        - Bombardier          ASN 0434607

Kneeling,L-R:
Eddie P.   Rush         - Tailgunner         ASN 34084010 (DNB)
Glenn O.   Wichner      - R.O.               ASN 6939905  (DNB)
James P.   Beggs        - R.O.               ASN 39255063
Jesse A.   Wallace      - Engineer           ASN 38043713 (DNB)
Vincent L. Stuart       - Ground crew        ASN 19085137
Major T.   Callahan     - Engineer
           ASN 38032109

Not Pictured:
Henry D. MacMillan,Jr.  - Engineer           ASN 34315051 (DNB)
Louis F. Peterson       - Bombardier         ASN 0744404
     (DNB)

Status: An original ASW crew, Williams was Operations Officer for the 36th BS when he went down and was replaced by Benjamin Mead. While not flying any Carpetbagger combat missions, the officers had probably flown one or two combat missions with the RAF/SOE squadrons prior to the crash. Men were sent to pick up the bodies in Special Orders #85,dtd 28Dec43 issued from Alconbury (Sta 102).

Additional Crew Data Sources:
Williams Crew Personnel Files

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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