|
Dick Gelvin started doing Personal Mission Histories for people over 10 years ago. What he created was a 3-ring binder with printouts from a customized spreadsheet and a few extra pages of drawings. The spreadsheets contained crew load lists for an individual's missions flown with the 445th.
He obtained the crew load lists from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), located in College Park, MD. Back in 1992, he copied some 4,400+ pages of crew load lists, mission summaries and Missing Air Crew Reports (MACRs).
When Dick passed away in 2005, I took on the responsibility of creating these mission histories. Rather than showing just the data on the individual, I wanted to expand the project and show how the mission tied in with the overall 8th Air Force plan of attack. The histories now being done go far beyond what Dick started with.
These histories now come in a spiral bound, soft cover book (8 1/2 x 11) with color covers. For a full tour of 30-35 missions, the history will run about 75+ pages in length. Whenever possible, I include pictures of the aircraft flown on a particular mission. I'm working on one now that has an acciden report included. I have requested copies of Missing Air Crew Reports for all 109 aircraft lost by the 445th in operations, which will be included in future histories. It takes anywhere from 2-3 weeks to put a history together as they are very labor intensive and I can only work on them on weekends. If you are interested in obtaining a mission history, contact the webmaster at the email address below for ordering information.
The link below to an Adobe Reader file is the mission history I did about my Dad's time flying with the 445th Bomb Group. It will give the viewer some insight on what goes into making one of these histories and why it takes so long to prepare.
Michael S. Simpson
|
