850th/857th BS

Wright Crew

The Wright crew is shown above with nine members of the original 10-man crew at Mountain Home, Idaho in the spring of 1944. Names of the four officers in the rear are known to us through Arlene Culver, wife of the crew's CP.

Back row, L-R:

Sauer, Donald S.     - Bombardier
Brinkman, Edward A.  - Navigator
Culver, Edwin L.     - Co-Pilot
Wright, Richard L.   - Pilot

Names of the Enlisted from Paul Koski via Richard Wright, son of Richard L. Wright. Verified from orders issued out of Mountain Home,ID in 1944.

Front row, L-R:
Gilbert H. Wagner    - Dispatcher
Dean G. Kensinger    - Radio Operator
Robert R. Mort       - Engineer
Paul J. Koski        - Gunner        (Orphaned)
Donald C. Reed       - Gunner        (Orphaned)

Joined the crew at a later date as Tail Gunner, not in picture:

Robert E. May        - Tail Gunner

Like many of the August '44 crews, their missions were restricted by weather conditions and the reorganization of the 801st/492nd BGs.  William McKinley, Squadron Bombardier, accompanied the crew on Mission 1415 and recorded in his diary that the three agents dropped to the Belgian Tybault target were two males and one female.  Mission 1556 was in support of Jedburgh team HUGH on the Brittany peninsula.  Tablejam targets were all in Denmark, to which drops resumed in August of '44, following a hiatus of three months. The Licensee circuit was the habitat of the famous American female agent, Virginia Hall. Except for the Tablejam (Danish) and Tybault (Belgian) targets, all drops were in France.  Data for August of 1944.

Pilot	MR#	OK	Fail	Joes	Cntrs	Pkgs	Nkls	Day	Target	Aircraft
Wright	1412	1	0	0	12	10	7	3	Ditcher 48	B24H 41-29600 M
Wright	1415	1	0	3	0	0	5	5	Tybault 15	B24H 41-29600 M
Wright	1556	1	0	0	12	3	9	11	Hugh 2C	B24H 41-29600 M
Wright	1594	0	1	0	0	0	0	14	Tablejam 40	B24H 41-29600 M
Wright	1668	1	0	0	12	0	7	16	Gondolier 13	B24J 42-50607 Q
Wright	1721	0	1	0	12	0	6	18	Licensee 2B	B24H 41-29600 M
Wright	1758	1	0	0	12	10	6	26	Messenger 35	B24H 41-29600 M

On the night of 15/16 September, they delivered Jedburgh team DOUGLAS II to the Marc 19 DZ in Doubs, France, one of the last Jed teams air-dropped by the Carpetbaggers in 1944. The team's full OSS After-Mission Report is available on the FTP Site.

Aircraft Details Credit: Tom Brittan 

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