1st Lt Charles Edward Hibbard
Aircraft Commander

source: New Castle High School 1939 Yearbook
New Castle Pennsylvania
Ancestry.com

2nd Lt Charles E Hibbard was with the Capt. Sam Durham Crew during their training at Smoky Hills AAF and flew to Saipan as an original crew member. They departed Mather Field, Sacramento, on or about 7 November 1944 and arrived on Saipan 14 Nov 1944.

Two pages of the 14 November 1944 Morning Report have lists first of the officers and a second list of the enlisted men. There are two crews listed in each of these lists.

Capt Sam Durham flew five missions between 24 November 1944 and 3 January 1945. He was then transferred to XXI Bomber Command on 17 January 1945. Lt Hibbard became an Aircraft Commander but only two officers from Capt Durham's crew joined him. None of the original enlisted men of the Durham crew became part of Lt Hibbard's crew.

Sgt Otto J Marek and the other enlisted men who would be come a part of the Hibbard crew arrived on Saipan 2 January 1945. They most likely would have flown their first mission with Lt Hibbard on 27 January 1945 and were with him until the B-29 went down on 7 April 1945.

The last document on this page is from the 73rd Bomb Wing Mission Report
and provides details of how the B-29 was lost.

Documents in Page 2 provide additional information about the crew while
Page 3 is concerned with the loss of 8 of the crew and recovery
of four men on 7 April 1945.

Two of these men would survive the war at the Omori POW Camp
while Sgt Marek and Sgt Meagher would
die in the Tokyo Military Prison fire of 25-26 May 1945.

OPERATIONS ORDER NUMBER 28
MATHER FIELD, SACRAMENTO
7 NOV 1944

source : Roy Wall
Original source : National Archives St Louis

BACK TO TOP

MORNING REPORT
878TH BOMB SQUADRON
14 NOVEMBER 1944
SAIPAN

source : Roy Wall
Original source : National Archives St Louis

BACK TO TOP

MORNING REPORT
878TH BOMB SQUADRON
14 NOVEMBER 1944
SAIPAN

source : Roy Wall
Original source : National Archives St Louis

BACK TO TOP

499TH BOMB GROUP NARRATIVE HISTORY
APRIL 1945

source: Air Force Historical Research Agency
REEL B0666

BACK TO TOP

73RD BOMB WING MISSION REPORT
XXI BOMBER COMMAND MISSION NO. 58
7 APRIL 1945

source: Jim Bowman
original source: National Archives Maryland

BACK TO TOP