The Saga of finding a particular B-24 crew (now with pictures)

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High-Test

High-Test

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Kansas City, MO
FlyingAGasoline
Solid_Lifters' thread about the pictures his Opa took of the Hindenburg got the gears in my head turning.

My Grandfather served in the USAAF during World War two. He was the pilot of a B-24 Liberator, and from an original crew photo I have back home, the plane's number that appears in large black letters beneath the windscreen is "984".
I've tried his name and the nickname that was on the back of the photo, is "Chief". I'm trying to locate information on the aircraft he flew and If it had any noseart. Sadly, I never met him, as he died about seven years before I was born. (1919-1982) My search yielded one Jack Wrenn of Marceline, Missouri, but he is still living and happens to be my uncle.


Is it even possible to find information like that? Where would I go to locate it?


EDIT:
DAMN!!! It's Jack C. Wrenn.. Jack M. Wrenn is my uncle.

I found this..

1ST LT. JACK C. WRENN CREW - Sgt. Marcel F. Millet, Lt. Moorad Mooradian, Lt. Leon B. Hendrickson, Sgt. George F. Lechner, S/Sgt. Charles R. Edwards, Sgt. James H. Cowie, Sgt. James F. Brunson, Sgt. Richard D. Bloomer, Sgt. Jack A. Palm.
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36th RCM.

So.. He flew a Radar Countermeasures plane.
 
Just guessing, because I've never actually done something like this, but I would expect that if your grandad's squadron still exists, it probably still has records going back to its inception, and may well have details of aircraft markings, or even photos, of the Liberator / Liberators he flew. Sending them a letter might pay off nicely. Most people in the airforce are enthusiasts and I'll bet that there are plenty of staff there who would actually enjoy finding whatever they can for you.

EDIT: Did you find this page? It's got a section with nose art on it. There might be bits somewhere to give you a clue what aircraft you're looking for.

http://www.36rcm.com/index.asp

EDIT 2: 1st Lt Jack C. Wrenn is listed in the aircrew roster... send them an email. Chances are one of the vets listed can tell a few interesting stories about your grandad - and perhaps even identify his aircraft!

EDIT 3: oops, scratch all that, it looks like that's where you found the crew listing in your own post, so I guess you've found the site :lol:
 
I've sent out an email, but that 36thrcm site's last "news" article is 2003. I'm not too optimistic.

18,482 is a HUGE number. But, it helps to know that he that flew radar jamming missions in the 36th "bomb squad". That narrows it significantly.

Part of my mind keeps saying that it was called the "Ready N' Able". Hopefully I'll get an email from the 36thrcm site administrator. :)
 
Okay, I just got an email.

Hello Chris,

In Squadron of Deception your grandfather and his crew are pictured in front of the B24 nicknamed "Beast of Bourbon" on page 199. The crews flew different aircraft and were not assigned to one particular Liberator. "Ready N' Able" is shown on pages 119, 120, 131, and 174. Also a mission report on page 203 indicates he piloted B24 R4-H, #44-50576 on 3/27/45. Unfortunately, I have only a few copies of the mission reports which show which pilot flew which aircraft. The official U.S.A.A.F. squadron history record also makes only limited note of individual pilots flying particular B24's and these are in reference to crashes or mishaps.
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The book is called Squadron of Deception by Stephen M. Hutton.

So here's The Beast of Bourbon:
beastofbourbon.jpg


And here's # 44-50576
R4H-2.jpg


:)

I'll be getting some more info from my uncle soon. (He knows more about this stuff than my Dad)

The picture I have is most likely yet another plane.

EDIT:

Two weeks later tragedy again struck the squadron. On 19 February, Liberator 42-50385 R4*H Beast of Bourbon piloted by Lt. Louis McCarthy and crew crashed on takeoff at Cheddington. At the time Lt. McCarthy was giving Lt. Victor E. Pregeant, III - a new pilot to the squadron - a check-ride for an operational mission. The crash was attributed to instrument failure. Of the ten crewmembers aboard, three were killed, two were moderately injured, and five slightly injured. The aircraft with its flamboyant nose art was a total loss.
Click to expand...

I'm getting more and more information and backstory as this search goes on.
 
I most certainly will. I'm expecting contact from my uncle, but I haven't heard from him yet.
:)
 
very nice work researching! i wish more people were as enthusiastic as you about these kinds of things....keep us posted! :D
 
Thanks for all of the positive comments, guys.

Does anybody know where Mike Rotch went? While he's our resident B-17 guy, he may be able to give some insight on this.
 
Did you find any useful sites on your quest?

I got a grandfather who was in the Grenadier Guards, and I'd love to track his regiment or battalion and what they did.
 
Yeah!

www.36rcm.org

And a site called b24bestweb.

M uncle works for the Santa Fe railroad, (Burlington Northern apparently doesn't know anything, according to him) and will be out for another week, probably. He's the one with most of the info.

:)

A close friend of my family flew for the RAF.

I don't have a book he sent me a long time ago for my birthday with me, but I recall him writing some of the planes he flew on the inside cover.

The only one I can seem to remember is the Avro Anson. Odds are that was what he trained on. Hmm.. I'll need to find that book.

I hope you find what you're looking for. :)

I didn't find him in the 492nd... (The 803rd and 858th formed the 36th, apparently)
 
sportysky
No thats Jack M. Wrenn in the picture and he is my grandpa! Thanks for sharing the information!:)
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Skylar, dear, your grandfather was born in 1950, at least five years after these photographs were taken.

THis, however, assumes that the Jack Mitchell Wrenn who is your grandfather is the same Jack Mitchell Wrenn who is my uncle.. :D

Raady Ann Able
READYANNABLE.jpg


Ready n' Able
READYNABLE1.jpg



Does anyone else have cool family history like this?
 
Not really. But I do have a big plaque thing that traces my paternal family back to Charlemagne.
 
High-Test
Does anyone else have cool family history like this?
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Well my grandfather said he worked on some secret MOD projects in the 60s,70s and 80s, as a computer programmer. He won't tell me anymore though.
 
High-Test
Does anyone else have cool family history like this?
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My grandfather piloted Halifax, Wellington and Lancaster bombers during the war. He had dozens of stories about it he'd tell us when we were kids that made the Memphis Belle look like Flight WW1041 from Birmingham to Alicante.

I don't think quite as many things happened all on one mission, but what did happen (in the film) was far from exaggeration.

Those guys were built from tougher stuff back then :bowdown:
 
High-Test
Does anyone else have cool family history like this?
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My family served in WWI and WWII, as far as I know one family member was a fighter plane pilot in the Wehrmacht in WWII and another one was in the SS fighting in russia. Too bad my grandparents died too early to tell me the whole story. :ouch:
 
Michael88
My family served in WWI and WWII, as far as I know one family member was a fighter plane pilot in the Wehrmacht in WWII and another one was in the SS fighting in russia. Too bad my grandparents died too early to tell me the whole story.
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I'll bet they had some stories. Do you have any old pictures or stories that they told your parents?


I never got to meet any of my grandparents. :(

I'll have to get the pictures in digital format, but my grandfather was mayor of his town when Walt and Roy Disney came to visit their old stomping ground.

Family friends love to tell stories about Walt Disney hitting on my grandmother. :lol:
 
Pretty cool story so far there.

I was going to suggest you try and get his war records.

I know that here in Canada we ended up getting the war records for 2 of my grandfather's and 2 great grandfathers. We were able to see where he was deployed and when, what injuries he had, his pay, his gun issued to him, and whatever else you'd ever want to know.

I know 2 of my great grandparents were in the Vimmy Ridge battle and now have their names on a plaque there, one of my grandfathers had his neck grazed by a sniper bullet but still lived through the war, and another grandfather's family lived very close to where he was sent for treatment on shrapnel in his leg so he was docked 2 days pay and a rank for taking off for a day to visit with them.

I also had another great grandfather who I got to meet and he was a mechanic in the war. His Jeep was bombed and he lay in a ditch for 3 days with no food, and very little water and a broken back until somebody found him. He lived with bolts in his back until he was nearly 90.

It's fun stuff finding out things on your family and if you can find his war records that would likely be a huge help.
 
Well, I hate to commit thread necrophilia. It's bothering me. My uncle seems to have gone off the deep end, and he's the one with all the knowledge. I found a few more photos of planes, but that's about it. I'm hitting a wall. I can't get a hold of my uncle.
 

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