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39th Bomb Group (VH)
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"City of Pittsfield"
"Two Passes and a Crap"
B-29 # 44-69773
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Crew 21's B-29 on the hardstand
Photo courtesy of Col. Michael Dickey, grandson of Sgt Howard V. Dickey, Camera Tech 61st BS

First Aircraft of P-21
"City of Pittsfield" on the hardstand

Capt William J. Senger Airplane Commander
1st Lt Garvin R. Kowalke Pilot
1st Lt Edward L. Bates Navigator
1st Lt George F. Bucher Bombardier
1st Lt Ernest D. Smith, Jr. Radar Observer
1st Lt Howard Kolbert Sqd Radar Observer filled in for Ernest Smith on Nagoya Mission.
1st Lt Rube F. Scheider Flight Engineer
S/Sgt Marvin N. Conley Radio Operator
S/Sgt Mervin L. Stanton CFC Gunner
Sgt Brooks N. Harris Right Gunner
Sgt Robert P. Harrison Left Gunner
Sgt Victor Durrance  Tail Gunner

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 Crew 21 
Honor Roll 
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1st Lt Howard Kolbert
Sqd Radar Officer
15 May 1945
S/Sgt Mervin L. Stanton
CFC Gunner
15 May 1945
Capt William J. Senger
Airplane Commander
Killed during a crop dusting accident soon after the war's end
1st Lt George F. Bucher
Bombardier
30 December 1952
Sgt Robert P. Harrison 
Left Gunner
January 1974
Sgt Brooks Harris
Right Gunner
Sep 1982
1st Lt Rube Scheider , Jr.
Flight Engineer
13 February 1994
1st Lt Ernest D. Smith
Radar Observer
27 March 1996
1st Lt Edward L. Bates
Navigator
 26 August 2005
1st Lt Garvin R. Kowalke
Pilot
 17 April 20111
S/Sgt Marvin N. Conley, Jr.
Radio Operator
18 October 2012
Sgt Victor R. Durrance
Tail Gunner
18 April 2013

Updates:

29 April 2013: Added Sgt Durrance to the Crew Honor Roll - he was last living member of his crew at the time of his Final Flight; Added S/Sgt Conley to the Crew Honor Roll, thank you to Dorothy Durrance, widow of Sgt Durrance for providing us the information about Sgt Conley.

01 Oct 2012: Added DOD for 1st Lt George Bucher - courtesy of his son.

20 April 2009: Added Missing Air Crew Report 14425 - it is a PDF file. It can be viewed with a program like Adobe's Acrobat Reader. Click here to download



Continued
 61st Squadron Crew Index
Sources: "History of the 39th Bomb Group"