John S. Doty

John S. Doty was a pilot.  He and his crew were in the 513 squadron.

Below are his mission comments:

This information is to help you understand the Liberandos Book

My military form five is a log of my Army Air corps and Air Force Flying career. I also kept a personal log book. There are some discrepancies in my log book early on but they are transcription errors mostly by those authorized to sign the log.

When you look at the Liberandos logs you will not see my name in the early missions as I flew various positions in the formations. My name shows up in some later missions when I was leading a box (seven to nine aircraft). As I have told you some information was lost in the transfer of squadron records to the ship sending us home.

We were in the 15th Air Force, 47 Wing, 376 Bomb Group (which had four squadrons the 512th,the 513th, the 514th,and the 515th). We normally flew seven aircraft from each squadron to form a group of twenty eight aircraft for a given target.

At the time I was in the 513th squadron we were supposed to rotate back to the states when we had 35 sorties (trips to the target) or 50 missions for which some sorties were given 2 mission credits.

Follow the page number in The Liberandos Book, mission no., date, and sortie or mission credit.

My first combat mission started below.

PAGE       MISSION NO.         DATE       SORTIE OR MISSION CREDIT

508             346             10-12-44        1

508             347             10-13-44        1

510             348             10-14-44        1

510             351             10-23-44        1

510             352             10-29-44        2

510             354             11-04-44        2

510             357             11-06-44        2

510             362             11-11-44        1

512             369             11-17-44        2

512             371             11-19-44        2

512             374             11-23-44        1

512             376             12-02-44        2

514             381             12-11-44        2

514             385             12-17-44        2

514             388             12-21-44        2

514             390             12-26-44        1

516             394               1-04-45        1

516             395               1-08-45        2

516             397               1-19-45        1

516             408               2-14-45        2

518             413               2-20-45        1

518             414               2-21-45        2  Click here to read his recollection

518             417               2-24-45        1

518             420               2-28-45        1

520             424               3-08-45        2

This last mission I was Group Air Commander and had thirty six aircraft with 34 going over the target. I was a Captain at the time and signed my form five as a Captain. As Group Air Commander, of all things, I was in command of the whole mission including my squadron commander Lt. Col. George as directed by the group commander. This is an example of some of the lost information in the book due to the records going in the water. The "Ities" over loaded the loading boat I've been told.

Each mission is a sortie for rotation but some sorties are double mission for mission rotation. There are 25 sorties and 38 missions.

JOHN S. DOTY Lt. Col. USAF (RET).