850th/857th BS

Oling Crew

Picture purchased from the National Archives

Shown above left as a 10-man crew at Mountain Home with their flyover plane, B24-H 42-94812, "Little Warrior", shot down a few weeks after being delivered to the UK (after it had been renamed "Little Lakasakky"), Jay Oling has identified the crewmen in this NARA Still Pictures Branch photo as:

Back Row, L-R:
Ralph D. Sanderson    -     Gunner
John V. Hook          -     Navigator
Fred I. Griffith      -     Copilot
John Jay Oling        -     Pilot
Richard H. Tausch     -     Bombardier
John J. Hettrich      -     Radio Operator

Front Row, L-R:
Stanley Novak         -     Engineer
Carl W. Johnson       -     Gunner    (Orphaned) Returned to Eye, 851st BS
Harold A. Hutt        -     Gunner
Jose Molinar          -     Gunner    (Orphaned) Returned to Eye, 849th BS

The 8-man crew was photographed at Harrington, shown below:

 

One of the lucky crews,; no fatalities or casualties, and lucky in getting in their 35 missions in the brief span of just three and a half months as well, they were on their way back to the ZI by early October of 1944.

Oling favored "Next Morn 290" because the crew chief was one of the best in the Army Air Force.  Neither plane nor ground crew let him down because the crew's record for July of 1944, shown below, is stellar by any measure - 12 missions, often in severe weather conditions, and all completed.  Missions 1369 and 1370 were the same flight, going to two different DZs. "Double-drop" missions did not count as double sorties and were rarely completed at both targets, due mostly to timing issues and the complexity of finding two DZs in a short space of time.  All targets were French but for Osric 54B, a Belgian drop. 

Pilot	MR#	OK	Fail	Joes	Cntnrs	Pkgs	Nkls	DZ	Aircraft
Oling	1369	1		0	12	0	0	Percy 45	B24H 42-95290
Oling	1370	1		3	0	6	6	Darwin 1A	B24H 42-95290
Oling	1396	1		0	12	10	10	Hamish 1D	B24H 42-95290
Oling	1454	1		0	12	0	0	Carver 2B	B24H 42-95290
Oling	1459	1		0	12	0	0	Spiritualist 6E	B24H 42-95290
Oling	1496	1		0	12	0	0	Osric 54B	B24H 42-95290
Oling	1550	1		0	12	8	8	Footman 25E	B24H 42-95290
Oling	1586	1		4	12	0	0	Tom 72A	B24H 42-95290
Oling	1616	1		1	12	10	10	Fireman 12E	B24H 42-95290
Oling	1630	1		0	12	4	4	Shipwright 27	B24H 42-95290
Oling	1685	1		0	12	6	4	Percy 13G	B24-H 42-95290
Oling	1715	1		0	12	0	6	Messenger 29B	B24-H 42-95290
Oling	1739	1		0	12	0	0	Dick 105	B24-H 42-95290

The ultimate fate of the Oling combat plane is unknown, anyone having details on it after September of 1944 is invited to share their information by sending me a note.

Aircraft Details Credit: Tom Brittan 

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