Standing, L-R:
Gordon F.  Wiebe            - Pilot           ASN 0699796   (MIA)
Thomas G.  Fraser           - Copilot         ASN 0772338   (POW)
John M.    Stolberg         - Navigator       ASN 0723733   (KIA)
Harvey R.  Smith            - H2X Radar       ASN 0773463   (POW)

Kneeling, L-R:
James      Sauer             - Crew Chief     ASN 35694281
Steve      Forman            - Engineer       ASN 36659392  (POW)
Karl E.    Fasick            - Gunner         ASN 13070244  (POW)
Gilbert    Smith,Jr.         - Gunner         ASN 35796058  (POW)
William D. English           - R.O.           ASN 39042033  (POW)

Not Pictured:
Neil W. Glover               - Bombardier     ASN 0706844   (POW)
George L. Reidell            - Tailgunner     ASN 32545918  (KIA)

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

The crew reported in to the 850th BS shortly before the August 1944 reorganization of the Group. They stayed with the 857th, flying five Carpetbagger operations in August and September of 1944, until early December of 1944, when they were transferred to the 859th BS, but this was quickly retracted and they were re-transferred, this time to the 858th BS which was beginning to get ready for night bombing at that time. The presence of Sauer, (who also appears in the Coleman Crew picture) indicates it was probably taken in August or September of 1944, when the crew was flying Carpetbagger missions.

On the night of 21/22 February 1945, the crew was attacked on return from a successful bombing mission to Duisberg and their plane was downed. Wiebe,Stolberg, and Reidell, were KIA. The remainder of the crew were captured as POWs and held for a time, being released by advancing Allied troops.

Crash Aircraft: B24L 44-49500

Additional Crew Data Sources:
MACR 12585
Wiebe Crew Personnel Files
Wiebe Crew Mission Reports (Partial)

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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