· RUEL SK

The Preparation
25
"When we were getting ready to board the plane Dent said: 'Y ou don't have to worry ­
nothing never happens when I am along.' I thought this strange because of his limited
experience. I remembered my fifth mission was to Politz in June and it was a very rough
mission, many planes went down, heavy flak and a lot of German fighter planes."
At the age of 30, T/Sgt. Ed Barnes was the old man of the crew of 1st Lt. Cecil J.
Isom. Before enlisting he had worked for Consolidated Aircraft in San Diego, California.
Later, he was sent to engineering and gunnery school, and ended up as a Technical
Sergeant. After five missions, they were made a lead crew. On August 14, 1944, during
one of their numerous instrument check flights, Sweet Sue developed a fire in the flight
deck resulting in a crash landing. The bombardier was injured and flew no more missions.
The plane was a total loss. The Isom crew switched to Patty Girl and stuck to her with
success.
Barnes was flying his 29th combat mission in the right waist position. On his first
six missions he had flown in the top turret, as did most ofthe engineers. But he did not like
it as it was too close in for him. Lieutenant Isom used to say - "When it comes time to
leave this bird, I don't want anyone to impede me." In time of crisis the flight deck could
sure get crowded. Staff Sergeant Kyle C. Bailey was not an engineer but he was trained in
the top turret position and wanted it. Isom agreed, so for the next missions Barnes switched
to the waist where he had some freedom ofmovement.
It was about 05 :30 when the trucks stopped at the hardstands. The boys threw all
their flight gear and bags out of the vehicles and took them to the ships where they
gathered under the wings ofthe giant, metal, mother hen.
First Lieutenant James C. Baynham and crew were dropped at hardstand 32. They
had flown a different ship during the preceding nine missions. It was a shame they did not
have their own aircraft for the pilot had a name for her, The Whistling Privy. Today they
boarded a shining silver B-24, King Kong, one ofthe newest planes in the group.
Lieutenant Peter Belitsos' original crew, the Speers crew, had been formed at
Westover Field, MA. During transition training, it remained intact with only one early
change made. They had flown together for seven months on all but the first of 21 missions
and on countless practice missions. But today, Belitsos was assigned to another crew and it
was not until he reached the hardstand that he met Lt. Bruland, the pilot.