One word to describe the composition of the Bartlett and Crowe crews
is ' fluid '.
My attempts to put together Crew Lists have not been completely successful.
One version is the below table with ten men of the Lt Bartlett crew
from
Special Orders 236 issued at Pratt AAF, Kansas, August 1944. You will
notice that there is no Right Gunner (RG).
Usually the Ground Crew Chief would fly with the crew in case of difficulties
encountered
between Kansas and their final destination.
The names for the Lt Crowe crew are from Missing Air Crew Report 14593.
1st Lt John D Bartlett and nine men of his crew were transferred
to
Herington AAF, Kansas, in early October 1944 for processing.
They were with the Flight Echelon and departed Herington AAF
with their B-29 on 11 October 1944.
Their first stop was at Mather AAF, Sacramento, California.
They continued their journey to Saipan via Oahu and Kwajalein,
arriving on 20 October 1944.
Their B-29 was A-7, nick name American Maid
The Bartlett crew shuffling began following the
3 January 1945 mission to Nagoya.
One page of the 497th Bomb Group Narrative History is below SO 236.
At the top is a brief description of what took place with SSgt James
Krantz and Sgt Donald Wilson.
Both were hospitalized as stated in the 869th Morning Report for 4
January 1945.
Their replacements were Cpl George N Beck ( Tail Gunner ) and
Cpl George A Beck, Jr. ( Left Gunner ).
It was not unusual for some of the crew
to fly with others when necessary.
Sgt George N Beck bounced around with several crews until 5 May 1945.
From then on he was flying with 1st Lt Jack Vetters on A-13, Misti
Christi
Another was Sgt Robert L Cook who flew with
the Bartlett Crew on the 13 March 1945 mission.
Around 15 March 1945 Lt Bartlett was transferred to
the 73rd Bomb Wing as Assistant Training Officer.
Lt Crowe moved up to the Aircraft Commander ( AC ) position and
2nd Lt Millard Young became Pilot.
Lt Young arrived on Saipan 17 March 1945 with the 1st Lt Richard Fate
Crew.
Most of Lt Crowe's missions as AC were flown on A-16.
Sgt Lawrence Beecroft was originally with the Capt. Leonard Cox crew,
arriving Saipan 23 October 1944.
Their B-29 ditched during the 14-15 January 1945 mission to Nagoya.
For his actions, Sgt Beecroft was awarded the Soldiers Medal.
Cpl William Isley arrived on Saipan 9 April 1945 with the 2nd Lt Walter
Martin Crew.
A-16 was hit by flak during the 1 June 1945 mission to Osaka.
Considerable confusion in radio intercepts lead to
reports that the B-29 had crashed 90 miles at sea.
By December 1945 the crash site had been located near Mt Sanjo
and the 390th Infantry I&R Platoon had spoken
with Japanese residents concerning the crash.
Four men parachuted to safety and seven died at the crash site.
One of the four survivors was SSgt Russell W Strong.
All four were captured within a few days and taken to Osaka Kempei
Tai Headquarters.
My thanks to Sgt George Anton Beck, Jr's son, Richard
Anton Beck ,
for providing information that filled in some of the gaps.
