858th BS
Doyle Crew

A picture would be most appreciated!

Os:
Robert K.  Doyle    - Pilot        ASN 0795716
Carl D.    Lee      - Copilot      ASN 0758500    (KIA)
George F.  Bradbury - Navigator    ASN 0699118    (KIA)

EMs:
Arthur A.  McCann   - Engineer     ASN 36554291
Thomas A.  Corkey   - R.O.         ASN 32517160
Leonard J. Holmes   - Gunner       ASN 36232206
Clyde W.   Burch    - Engineer     ASN 39553922
Donald D.  Ormstead - Engineer     ASN 32831047
Arnold     Carter   - Engineer     ASN 34669791 

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

The Doyle Crew went through their CCTS (Combat Crew Training School) with the 32nd CCTS at Davis-Monthan Air Field in Tucson, Arizona in late 1943. They were one of the first crews transferred to the 492nd NG at Alamogordo, New Mexico on 5 Jan 44. Their odyssey through the terrible summer of 1944 at North Pickenham brought them to Harrington to finish their tour after the daylight 492nd was disbanded and the designation taken over by the Carpetbaggers. The crew reported in to Harrington sans Bombardier.

Bradbury and Lee flew with the James McLaughlin crew in a friendly-fire incident on the night of 16/17 September 1944. Doyle and Bradbury flew as passenger/observers on only one mission in August of 1944, MR #1754 with Stinchcomb to Licensee 6 in France. Ormstead and Carter appear to have been orphaned as their names do not appear in any MRs for August or September of 1944. Doyle does not appear in records for the gas haul period and may have been on his way to the ZI by then.

In the following month, the last active month at Harrington for some time, Doyle managed eight missions with mixed success at the practice of dropping spies and supplies:

The data exhibit a clear preference for B24 42-63776, a by-then ancient warhorse from the defunct 479th Anti-Submarine Group which had borne the name "Spirit of '76" at one time, and had been with the Carpetbaggers since 20 Dec 1943. It disappears from inventories sometime in 1945, probably transferred to the MTO.

Agents Carried/Inserted:
MR 2013 DZ Bob 282A No drop (3)

Additional crew data sources:
Doyle Crew Personnel Files
Doyle Crew Mission Reports

Group-Related Downloads: 801st
"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)
"Secret Squadrons of the 8th" by Carty (leaflet squadron portion only)
"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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