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 1512 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 2516 397 1-19-45 1
516 408 2-14-45 2518 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).
The website 376bg.org is NOT our site nor is it our endowment fund.
At the 2017 reunion, the board approved the donation of our archives to the Briscoe Center for American History, located on the University of Texas - Austin campus.
Also, the board approved a $5,000 donation to add to Ed Clendenin's $20,000 donation in the memory of his father. Together, these funds begin an endowment for the preservation of the 376 archives.
Donate directly to the 376 Endowment
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DATES: Oct 26-29, 2024
CITY:Tucson, AZ
HOTEL: Double Tree Suites Airport hotel
7051 South Tucson Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85756
520-225-0800
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