Crews Assigned Number 30
and Their Fate
By
Andy Anzanos

The 390th flight crews were assigned crew numbers one to 99 when they became operational as combat crews. Fate has it that if you were assigned number 30, chances were that you would become a “first” or meet unusual fate.  Consider the following:

The very first crew, George Harmon’s 570th crew, to be assigned number 30 suffered the very first and only casualty of the 390th operations when the radio operator died from anoxia.  This was on the group’s first mission on the 12th of August 1943.

When the next crew, the Francis Gerald 569th crew, was assigned number 30, they were shot down on their very first mission to Emden on the 11th of December 1943.

Then when the very next crew to be assigned number 30, the Clyde Sanders 569th crew, that crew was also shot down on their very first mission to Brunswick on 11 January 1944.

It was not all a complete disaster since there was only one fatality from the two complete 10 men crews.  Nineteen became POWs out of the twenty to survive without further risk.

This ended  being the “first” but the saga of being crew number 30 continued:

The very next crew after Sanders to be assigned number 30 was the Everett Ferguson 570th crew who then flew 2 missions before being  reassigned to crew 42. As crew number 42 Ferguson crew was shot down on their second mission, 2 March 1944, and Ferguson, the pilot, was killed along with 4 other members.  Four became POW and one evaded.

The number 30 was then assigned, following Ferguson, to the Carl Nesbitt 569th crew.  On their 21st mission to Leipzig, the crew was shot down on 29 May 1944.  Nesbitt, the pilot was again killed as were three other crew members. Six became POWs.

After Nesbitt came the Stanley Wilson’s 569th crew with number 30.  Stanley only flew 2 missions and disappeared from our records. Charles McIntosh the copilot with 15 prior missions on other crews took over as pilot.  After 21 missions as number 30, the McIntosh crew was shot down on a mission to Neurenburg 10 September 1944.  Again the pilot was killed along with 5 other crew men.  Three became POWs.

After McIntosh came the Leonard Gaik 569th crew with the number 30 tag.  This crew was shot down on their 21st  mission  to Cheb, Czechoslovakia 14 February 1945.  Again the pilot was killed along with six other crew men.  Only 2 became POWs.

After Gaik crew came John Hastie 569th crew flying their first mission on 8 March 1945.  Fortunately the war ended with the crew having flown only 16 missions and without a casualty.

The number 30 crews suffered the highest casualties of any other of the 99 crew numbers.  Their casualties numbered a total of 51 (61 when the Ferguson crew is considered), more than double the average.

It’s also eerie that the first crew, George Harmon's crew, who suffered the very first casualty, is the only number 30 crew to complete their tour of operations (but without their original radio operator.)  The Harmon crew is also tied with the number 13  crew, William Royal crew, to be the first ones of the 390th BG to complete their required tour of 25 missions. This occurred on the 26th of November 1943.

    Freedom

             Didn’t

                    Come

                             Free

                                     Then

Nor Does it Now