DeCow Crew – Assigned 753rd Squadron – April 20, 1945

Crew Photo Needed

Flying at the End of Hostilites

Rank	Name	Serial #	Crew Position	Date	Status	Comments
1Lt	Wayne E DeCow	070967	Pilot	20-Apr-45	NCM	Assigned from 453rd BG
1Lt	Austin W Frost	0714056	Co-pilot	20-Apr-45	NCM	Assigned from 453rd BG
2Lt	Russell G Hibbard	02056592	Navigator	20-Apr-45	NCM	Assigned from 453rd BG
T/Sgt	Russell E Miller	31378411	Flight Engineer	20-Apr-45	NCM	Assigned from 453rd BG
T/Sgt	Frank E Chessman	39298528	Radio Operator-Gunner	20-Apr-45	NCM	Assigned from 453rd BG
S/Sgt	Rufus H Haerle	17037610	Flight Engineer	20-Apr-45	NCM	Assigned from 453rd BG
S/Sgt	James A Mahan	39120139	Airplane Armorer-Gunner	20-Apr-45	NCM	Assigned from 453rd BG
S/Sgt	Sigvald P Hustad	37565903	Airplane Armorer-Gunner	20-Apr-45	NCM	Assigned from 453rd BG
Sgt	John G Hansen, Jr	37665537	Airplane Armorer-Gunner	20-Apr-45	NCM	Assigned from 453rd BG

Assigned to the 753rd Squadron at the end of the air war in Europe, there is very little information on the DeCow crew in the 458th records. Having arrived in the ETO only five days prior to the Eighth Air Force’s cessation of bombing operations, they were able to fly the last mission of the war on April 25th. Given their pay grades, and the fact that they flew combat so shortly after their arrival, they may have been an experienced crew having flown missions with the 453BG.

It is very possible that this crew was assigned to ferry a Liberator back to the United States. See Ferry Crews.

Mission

Date	Target	458th Msn	Pilot Msn	Serial	RCL	Sqdn	A/C Msn	A/C Name	Comments
25-Apr-45	BAD REICHENHALL	230	1	44-10602	E	J4	49	TEN GUN DOTTIE	LAST 8AF MISSION

B-24J-65-CF 44-10602 J3 A Ten Gun Dottie

DeCow flew this aircraft on the crew’s sole mission with the group