September 10, 1944 – 384th BG Mission 191
The 384th Bomb Group Mission 191 was also known as Eighth Air Force Mission 619.
The Buslee crew flew this mission aboard aircraft 43-38213, name unknown.
The primary target was the BMW Motor Component Parts Plant in Sindelfingen, Germany.
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 – Paul Leland Watson
- Tail Gunner – Eugene D. Lucynski
- Waist Gunner – George Edwin Farrar (my dad)
The regular Buslee crew without Erwin V. Foster. Paul Leland Watson replaced Foster as Ball Turret Gunner on this mission. Foster did not fly again until September 30, 1944, two days after the Buslee crew was involved in the September 28 mid-air collision with the Brodie crew. Foster completed his tour with 35 missions on February 28, 1945, returning to the US.
Watson would also replace Foster the next day on mission 192, but would not fly with the Buslee crew again after that. Watson flew 29 missions in all, his last on November 16, 1944 when his aircraft received a direct flak hit to an engine, setting it on fire. Six chutes were observed, with one on fire. The aircraft crash-landed in Belgium, with an injured pilot and engineer, and a dead co-pilot. Five of the crew became POW’s, including Watson.
Rybarczyk is back as Navigator after sitting out the September 9 mission.
Aircraft 43-38213 only flew three more missions after this one, for a total of fourteen combat missions. On September 13, 1944, immediately after bombs away, the aircraft was seen going down in flames. Four of the crew members on this flight were killed, with five becoming POWs.
Source: Sortie Report
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2013
The Arrowhead Club 