August 9, 1944 – 384th BG Mission 176
The 384th Bomb Group Mission 176 was also known as Eighth Air Force Mission 533.
The Buslee crew flew this mission aboard aircraft 44-6149, named Hot After It.
The primary target was Erding, Germany. Most of the aircraft missed the primary target due to poor weather and bombed targets of opportunity. [Per Ken Decker’s notes that are no longer displayed on www.384thbombgroup.com]
Crew List:
- Pilot – John Oliver Buslee
- Co-Pilot – David Franklin Albrecht
- Navigator – Chester A. Rybarczyk
- Bombardier – James B. Davis
- Radio Operator/Gunner – Sebastiano Joseph Peluso
- Engineer/Top Turret Gunner – Lenard Leroy Bryant
- Ball Turret Gunner – Erwin V. Foster
- Tail Gunner – Eugene D. Lucynski
- Waist Gunner – George Edwin Farrar (my dad)
Training over. Buslee took command as Pilot on this flight, which brought Albrecht back together with his original crewmates as Co-Pilot.
Arthur J. Shwery, the pilot who trained Buslee on his first two missions, returned to fly on this mission, but piloted another aircraft with a different crew.
James B. Davis flew with the Buslee crew for the first time, replacing Bombardier Marvin Fryden, who was killed on the Buslee crew’s prior mission.
Lenard Leroy Bryant rejoined the Buslee crew, but not as Waist Gunner. Starting with this mission, Bryant flew the rest of his missions as Engineer/Top Turret Gunner, replacing Clarence B. Seeley, who was seriously wounded on the Buslee crew’s prior mission.
Source: Sortie Report
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2013
The Arrowhead Club 