850th/857th BSs
 Oling Crew

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

Back Row, L-R:
Ralph D.   Sanderson     - Gunner        ASN 39291665
John V.    Hook          - Navigator     ASN 0704491
Fred I.    Griffith      - Copilot       ASN 0819085
John Jay   Oling         - Pilot         ASN 0807501
Richard H. Tausch        - Bombardier    ASN 0695559
John J.    Hettrich      - R.O.          ASN 32781646

Front Row, L-R:
Stanley    Novak         - Engineer      ASN 11070880
Carl W.    Johnson       - Gunner        ASN 19181500 (Orphaned) Returned to Eye, 851st BS
Harold A.  Hutt          - Gunner        ASN 32491908
Jose       Molinar       - Gunner        ASN 39555181 (Orphaned) Returned to Eye, 849th BS

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

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

Standing,L-R:
Griffith,Hook,Oling,Tausch
Kneeling,L-R:
Hettrich,Hutt,Novak,Sanderson

One of the lucky crews - no fatalities or casualties, and lucky in getting in their 35 missions in during 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.

There are also three casual photos of the crew,click here.

Agent insertions/attempted:
MR 1370  (3)  DZ Darwin       @ 45°32'N 01°58'E   Unidentified
MR 1586  (4)  DZ Tom 72A      @ 49°48'N 03°43'E   Unidentified
MR 1616  (1)  DZ Fireman 12E  @ 46°25'N 01°22'E   Aylmer E. Cameron
MR 1896  (8)  DZ Bob 172      @ 47°38’N 04°58’E   Part of OSS OG team CHRISTOPHER 

Coordinates from John V. Hook's Log

Leaflets:
USF-77
USF-128
USF-130
 USF-131
USF-133

Additional Data Sources:
Oling Crew Personnel Files
Oling Crew Mission Reports

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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