Crew 48

HAROLD'S TRIBUTE TO 448thBGp CREW 48 | home

Crew 48

Hughey's Revenge

There seems to be a problem in posting today that I also often do "lead others to think we all had an assigned aircraft that was ours for all missions." There was no specific aircraft assigned for only one crew to fly. Likewise some aircraft may have been damaged on a previous mission which required additional maintenance. The crew that flew it was probably not flying that day but if they were scheduled they would be assigned any aircraft that was ready to fly. Some may have developed a favorite but that was not an indicator that they would ever be in that aircraft again. Nor was the aircraft kept grounded because the crew that claimed it was not scheduled to fly that day. We the crew were assigned an aircraft to fly on a mission in accordance with what the Ground Maintenance determined were flyable for that day. This was also dependent upon the number we were to supply for that mission. Even though we tagged the name"Hughey's Revenge" on our aircraft the next crew that flew may call it almost anything they wanted to.

LT JOHN WILLIAMS - PILOT

LT John Williams [ Pilot] and his wife, Irene, reside in North Glenn CO. John entered the service with an older brother In 1940. When he and his brother were split he went into the Army Air Force, his brother was sent to the Philippines and was on the death march. He was killed when the US sank a Japanese prison ship.

John did not care for his military assignment so he signed up for flight cadet training.On being commissioned he signed for Fighters.That however was cancelled and he was sent to Heavy Bombardment and ended up in the 448th.

After completion of his tour he was assigned to the training of Navigators and Bombardiers. He crash-landed a B 24 at Langley during the training assignment. He was released from the service on points with the first group released at the end of the War. He worked for United Airlines as R&E mechanic then transferred to the Flight Simulator Department spending 34 years with United retiring in 1981.

John Williams and his wife Irene after a good 58 years together

HAROLD M. SUSSELMAN - NAVIGATOR

Stateside, our Navigator was Harold M. Susselman (picturedbelow). On arrival in England, he was replaced by LT H.Hager. Prior to our first Mission LT. Hager was reassigned to Group level. Lt. Hager was replaced on our crew by the original crew Navigator Lt. Harold M. Susselman. SUS is pictured below left side of page. He and his wife reside in Great Neck N.Y. His wife is also an author. One of her books is "When the Hearing Gets Hard". He has also legally changed his name Harold M. Suss.

A Although we were alerted to fly missions they were cancelled or aborted until 22 Dec. 43.

Lt.Edward D.Hughey (P) Crew 41, and our pilot were in the same Hut. He and his crew were lost on the first Group mission , when a wing plane released its bombs on top of it . It dropped and slid under ,or the wing plane lifted-- any way, its bombs got him and his crew . It is the incident described by pilot Lt. Smith on page 66 of "The1000 Day Battle".

On the 24th our crew was scheduled to fly. At the briefing we were informed of the loss of two of our aircraft and how they were lost . Prior to our crews first mission and during preflight inspection our pilot told the crew that we would refer to our aircraft as "HUGHEY'S REVENGE". I have stated in prior writings that we did not have this name painted on the aircraft;but, my pilot informs me that the maintenance crew did paint the name on.We were not assigned the same aircraft on all missions.Other crews also used the aircraft and it was at times not available due mechanical problems or damage on a previous mission.

LT BENJAMIN MALEWISKI - CO-PILOT

Lt. Benjamin Malewiski [Co-pilot] made his home in Denmark, Wisconsin. He

passed on in 1997 as his wife Norma was driving him to the hospital.

Lt. Robert Price [Bomb] May still be in England. No known contact with him since we departed. Above Lt. R. Price and Lt. J. Williams England 1943

T/Sgt Arthur T. Griggs.[Eng.] Last contact was at Chanute AFB 1945. Originally from PA. He was engaged to a girl, named Gladys, In the Peoria IL area.

S/Sgt Harold Q Kennedy MSG USAF Ret, Resides w/wife, Madeline, in Bloomfield, IN.

T/Sgt Angelo Muscarello[RO] Resided in New York. Moved to FL. He is believed to be in St. Petersburg area. Breaking news: As of 25 Dec 03 he and his wife Olga reside in Port Charlotte FA.

T/Sgt Lester Doucet.[Eng] from LA. Flew with another crew 30 DEC 1943.and was POW to 1945. Lost a foot. Passed on 13 Feb 2000 in Omaha, NE. Replacement was:

S/SGT Calvin C Mosteller of Hayesville NC. After release from the service he worked as a Tax Assessor. He made his final flight in 1997 in Hayesville.

S/SGT James W. Keeling [Ball Turret] Died in Crescent City, CA in 1972. His widow, Ruth, still resides there.

S/Sgt T. J. (Shorty) Cadell Jr. Lived in Illinois across the Wabash River from Vincennes, IN, near the George AAF Base. I have been unable to locate any one that knows him., yet for several years, I lived within 30 miles of that area.

IF YOU KNOW THE WHEREABOUTS OF OR HAVE ANY FURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING ANY OF THE CREW MEMBERS , PLEASE SEE LOCATER PAGE. 23 July 03

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