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Floyd R Creasman

Creasman, of Ashville, North Carolina, was the Pilot and aircraft commander. A little older than the average group pilot, he had been serving as an enlisted man in the Infantry since 1936 and was thus wise to the ways of the service. His prior service meant that he held the rank of 1st Lieutenant whereas most of his fellow Group pilots were still 2nd Lieutenants.

The training programme for pilots was extremely comprehensive and for Creasman it comprised of four phases. Primary training consisted of acedemic and military training together with 60 hours of flying. The aim of this phase was to develop the student's basic flying skills and to identify those unsuited to the role. The next phase, basic flying training, again included an academic and military input, together with a further 70 hours flying. The aim of this phase was to ensure that the students could fly competently the AAF way and also to identify the type of aircraft the student was best suited to operate (single-engine, multi-engine etc). Next came Advanced flying training, a 10-week course which included more academic work and flying in twin engine trainers. At the conclusion of this phase, graduates were awarded their pilots wings. The final phase of training before crew assignment was Transition flying training, which in the case of B-24 pilots consisted of 105 hours hours of flying on type spread over 10 weeks.

Midway through their combat tour, Creasman was removed from combat flying by the group flight surgeon as a result of combat fatigue and was replaced by Eule Stone.

John T Harper

Harper, of Charlotte North Carolina, was the aircraft's co-pilot. A graduate of the Aviation cadet programme, he had aspirations to be a fighter pilot but fate had placed him in the right seat of a B-24. As co-pilot, he would have completed Advanced flight training but would not have attended Transition flying training. He too was gounded mid tour, in his case as a result of an injury sustained on the ground, and replaced by Ed Ripple.

In February 1943 he attended the Air Force Classification centre in Santa Ana, California and qualified for Pilot, Navigator or Bombardier training. He chose to become a Navigator and proceeded to Ellington Field, Houston, Texas for Pre-flight training. This phase introduced the cadets to military drill, PT, weapons training, as well as a battery of academic subjects including mathematics, codes, maps and charts, aero-physics and altitude equipment training. From there he proceeded to Hondo, Texas for Advanced Navigator training. This 20-week phase comprised of 782 hours of Ground school and 104 hours in the air using AT-11 trainers. The academic input included pilotage navigation, radio, celestial navigation, meteorology, codes and recognition, and dead reckoning.

Glew graduated from Hondo in October 1943, was awarded his Navigator wings and promoted to 2nd Lt.

Marvin C Rudolph

Rudolph, of Eagle, Nebraska, was the crews Bombardier. He was another former regular infantryman and was also a 1st Lt.

Rudolph had attended Bombardier School, which consisted of a 20-week course incorporating 718 hours of Ground School and 120 hours in the air. The Ground School phase included navigation, bombing theory, codes, meteorology, air and sea recognition and use of the current bombing equipment. The airborne phase involved the use of AT-11 training aircraft in practice bombing runs.

Hebert was keen, but knew that his eyesight was not of the required standard. Unbeknown to him at this time, the AAF was desperate for gunners and the eyesight requirement was waived.

After pressure chamber testing to ensure he could physically cope with high altitude flying, Hebert was sent to Wendover Field for the 6-week gunnery course. Like all gunners trained at Wendover, he completed the course without ever setting foot in an aircraft. Upon graduation, he was promoted to Sgt and returned to Salt Lake for assignment.

Richard E Strombach

The crews nose gunner, he was also a qualified airplane mechanic/ gunner. He joined the crew in Italy.

Replacements

Ed Ripple

Ripple, of Beeville, Texas, was Harpers replacement as co-pilot. At 200lbs, he was large for a pilot of the day. The crew removed the left-hand armrest from his seat on the flight deck to assist him in getting in and out.