Delivered Cheyenne 11/2/44; Kearney 4/3/44; Presque Is 10/3/44; Assigned 731BS/452BG [7D-N] Deopham Green 16/3/44; damaged on Crossbow mission 8/5/44 with Gene Lohman, Co-pilot: Maj Roland; Navigator: Jack Mann, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Ivan Amold, Radio Operator: Don Gonio, Ball turret gunner: Al Kileen, Waist gunner: Bob Doyle, Waist gunner: Jim Fryor,Tail gunner: Junior Coleman (9 Returned to Duty); Bombardier: Bob Barrett (Killed in Action); direct in in nose, by pilot brought ship home, but later was destroyed on ground by enemy aircraft at Poltava with John Zimmerman 21/6/44; Salvaged Russia 2/7/44. MY ACHIN’ BACK aka BIG TIME OPERATOR.



Big Time Operator: This was a replacement plane for pilot John J. Pesch and co-pilot Joyce C. Amley. Pesch and Amley had earlier survived a German fighter attack which badly damaged their original plane known as “Four Freedoms” on March 23, 1944. Due to the dire situation, the other eight crew members were ordered to bail out while the pilot and copilot struggled to maintain control of the plane. Pesch and Amley eventually crash landed in England. Their feat was outstanding, and being proud young men they thought of themselves as being “big time operators”, so they named their next plane this name. They had 8 parachutes painted on this plane in honor of their other crew members who had bailed out of “Four Freedoms”. Plane #42-97256.