Skippy

by Andy Anzanos

One of the most famous pictures of the air  war was a photo of a 390th Bomb Group formation.  The photo became  nationally known on magazine covers and bond drives during the war years.  This photo also served as the source for the museum’s 26 foot wide mural painting by Rudy Cardenas, a local artist,  that adorns the east wall of our hangar.  In the foreground of the picture, it has been determined by our research department,  is  “Skippy”  taken on a mission to Emden, Germany, 27 September 1943.  The mural is referred to as “Top Cover” at the museum.

“Skippy”, serial number 42-3329, was an original group airplane assigned to Lt. George Harmon’s crew. George completed his tour without incident to his crew except for  the groups very first mission to Bonn, Gr. where his radio operator, Sgt. Democrat Tscuhnikas, died from anoxia, the only casualty of  the mission.

George Harmon was the pilot on  “Skippy” the date of  the Emden photo. 

After Harmon,  Lt. Dean Settles flew “Skippy” for eight of his missions without incident to him or his crew.

Lt. Tom Sutters’s crew then followed.  On their second mission aboard “Skippy” on 5 February 1944 the ship caught fire during assembly for a planned mission to Frankfurt, Germany.  The crew bailed out while Sutters steered “Skippy” towards the coast.  The bail out stories of the crew were published in the Stars and Stripes news article and also in our 390th Blue Book.  The aircraft crashed at Salehurst, Sussex, England. Excerpts are taken from the past publications indicating the  humorous aspects of  the bail out casualty:

Sgt. Al Selvidio, radio operator, landed on a railroad track, scrambled to safety with the help of an elderly Britisher, as a train came around the bend.  The train was bearing down on Selvidio, when the man, who was working in his victory garden, lowered a ladder and rescued the Sergeant.

Sgt. Otto Fugett, engineer, got hung up on a quarry ledge, dangling 150 feet above the ground by his shroud lines before, somehow, dropping to the ground with only a severely sprained ankle.

Sgt. Joe Collector, ball turret gunner, landed, waist deep in a peat marsh, unable to extricate himself, until rescued by some home guard British soldiers.

Sgt. Bernard Jensen, tail gunner, was the lucky boy, who was kissed back to consciousness by a pretty British Land Army lass. “It was the craziest thing that ever happened to me...one of the nicest things too” said Jensen.

Lt. Leo Haynes, navigator, was left dangling helplessly over the roof of a three-story house when his chute caught on to the chimney .

Sgt. Sal DePietro, waist gunner, fell into a lake, got tangled in his harness, and thought he was drowning, only to discover that he was standing on the bottom.  All he had to do was to wade out.

Lt. Paul Cooper, copilot, floated down dangerously close to a big harbor where everyone was suspicious and was taken aboard a British battleship for questioning, and later invited to an R.A.F. base as guest of an Air Vice Marshall.

Lt. Walter Lunden, bombardier, was the hard luck fellow of the outfit.  He fractured a leg landing in the middle of a paved highway.

Sgt. Ernest Peiffer, waist gunner, landed without incident after holding the escape door open while his mates jumped.

Lt. Thomas Sutters, pilot, stayed with his ship as long as possible to get it out to sea and jumped well after his crew mates and without incident.