850th/857th BS

Jaxtheimer Crew

The Jaxtheimer crew is shown above left as a 10-man crew at Mountain Home, Idaho in the spring of 1944. Picture and fingerprints courtesy of the National Archives staff. Jaxtheimer was a former Master Sergeant who had applied for and received a commission at the beginning of hostilities.

Back row, L-R:

Hubbard, Richard E.     - Engineer
Harris, Emerson M.      - Copilot
Shiles, Robert E.       - Bombardier
Nichols, Jack E.        - Navigator
Jaxtheimer, William A. - Pilot
Forrest, David T.       - Radio Operator

Front Row, L-R:

Combs, James M.         - Gunner
Teixera, Ernest J.      - Gunner (Orphaned)
Sandusky, Charles W.    - Gunner
Clifford, Chester U.    - Gunner (Orphaned)

Texeira and Sandusky were released at Cheddington and according to notes from John Walker's copy of the squadron history, returned to Eye to fly with the Tannenberg and Spiegel crews, respectively (both 849th BS).

The Jaxtheimer crew is shown above as an 8-man crew at Station 179 in the spring of 1944. Names have been confirmed by Bette Harris, widow of Emerson Harris, as:

Back, L-R:

Nichols
Shiles
Jaxtheimer
Harris

Front, L-R:

Forrest
Combs
Hubbard
Clifford

Flying half of the month, a very heavy schedule for any crew, the figures below for July 1944 show that their favored plane was "Next Morn 331 H" (the callsign). It would crash on return from a mission to Norway in March of 1945, long after the crew had completed their tour.

Pilot	MR#	Date	Target	Aircraft
Jaxtheimer	800	2	Fireman 12	B24H 41-29600 M
Jaxtheimer	840	4	Ventriloquist 28	B24H 42-50331 H
Jaxtheimer	890	5	Beggar 9	B24H 42-50331 H
Jaxtheimer	920	7	Peter 16C	B24H 42-95259 K
Jaxtheimer	936	8	Fireman 14	B24H 41-29607 L
Jaxtheimer	974	10	Frederick 6	B24H 42-95036 A
Jaxtheimer	1004	11	Gondolier 16B	B24H 42-50331 H
Jaxtheimer	1046	14	Digger 35	B24H 42-50331 H
Jaxtheimer	1067	16	Hamish 2A	B24H 42-50331 H
Jaxtheimer	1094	17	Hubert 11	B24H 42-50331 H
Jaxtheimer	1185	23	Hermit 19	B24H 42-50331 H
Jaxtheimer	1208	24	Percy 13	B24H 42-50331 H
Jaxtheimer	1233	26	Hermit 24	B24H 42-50331 H
Jaxtheimer	1252	27	Felix 4	B24H 42-50331 H
Jaxtheimer	1306	30	Paul 61	B24H 42-50331 H

Shown in red, all targets for the month were in France, a number in support of Jedburgh teams which were deployed during the period.

Aircraft Details Credit: Tom Brittan