I just saw this...John Simon is my Uncle.
Back row, left to right... • John Simon, pilot • John Dzanaj, co-pilot • Colin Barkell, navigator • Thomas Rice, bombardier Front row, left to right... • John Whitmore, engineer • Elmer Colt, radio operator • Garnett Saint, nose gunner • Norman Wintermeyer, armorer • Charles Tyson, tail gunner • Joe Corley, waist gunner
Simon Crew R-03 Summary While training in Colorado, one of the original crewmen on this crew, Bob Lambert, was killed in a plane crash. We learned this information as it was written on the back of the crew photo owned by the Elmer Colt family. We don't know what Bob's position was, his rank, nor who replaced him. The Simon replacement crew arrived at North Pickenham in May. After some in-house training they were assigned to the 857th BS on 25 May 44 to fill the squadron's vacancy as Crew 716. At this time we're not sure which crew, if any, they replaced since there wasn't any original crew designated as Crew 716. By our count, Lt Simon took his crew through 19 missions plus an aborted one with the 492nd. We don't know if any substitutions were made on any of the missions... which was common during the war as sometimes the men would get sick or wounded. We are led to believe that shortly after arriving to North Pickenham, Lt Rice was reassigned to the Testa Crew 704, a lead crew, to serve as their Pilotage Navigator. Furthermore we believe the crew didn't have a regular bombardier as most of their missions were of carpet bombing types and on such missions when they did need one, one was furnished to them from the bombardier's pool. When the Group was disbanded on 10 Aug 44, Lt Drilling, originally with the Foster Crew R-20, transferred with this crew to the 446th BG as their bombardier. This crew survived some of the toughest air battles fought by the 492nd. But their luck didn't hold out with the 446th. On 25 Aug 44, they were shot down. 4 KIA, 6 POW, MACR 8473.