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Robert F Applin

Military

  • Crew #758 Robert F. Applin Crew 466th BG - 787th BS Standing Left to Right: Robert F. Applin (P), Richard Joyce (CP), Carl Herbst (B), Leon Appel (N), Earl Rau (FE) Kneeling Left to Right: Barkev Hovesepian (R/O), Henry Ciocci (G), Donald Brooks (G), Arthur Huggins (TG), LaVern Young (G) This crew completed a 33 combat mission tour 5 October 1944 - 24 March 1945

    Crew #758 Robert F. Applin Crew 466th BG - 787th BS Standing Left to Right: Robert F. Applin (P), Richard Joyce (CP), Carl Herbst (B), Leon Appel (N), Earl Rau (FE) Kneeling Left to Right: Barkev Hovesepian (R/O), Henry Ciocci (G), Donald Brooks (G), Arthur Huggins (TG), LaVern Young (G) This crew completed a 33 combat mission tour 5 October 1944 - 24 March 1945

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Our pilot, Bob Applin, was a natural leader and an excellent pilot. - Barky Hovsepian, R/O

Complete a 35 mission tour

Service

People

  • Leon Appel

    Military | First Lieutenant | Navigator | 466th Bomb Group

  • Don Brooks

    Military | Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade) | Gunner | 466th Bomb Group

  • Henry Ciocci

    Military | Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade) | Gunner | 466th Bomb Group

  • Carl Herbst

    Military | First Lieutenant | Bombardier | 466th Bomb Group
    30 missions in ETO Air Medal w/ 4 Oak Leaf Cluster/ DFC

  • Barkev Hovsepian

    Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator | 466th Bomb Group
    Flew 35 missions and 3 fuel haul missions to Patton's army in Spet 1944. Crash landed at Manson after preparing to ditch in channel. ...

  • Arthur Huggins

    Military | Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade) | Tail Gunner | 466th Bomb Group

  • Richard Joyce

    Military | First Lieutenant | Co-Pilot | 466th Bomb Group

  • Earl Rau

    Military | Technical Sergeant (2nd Grade) | Flight Engineer | 466th Bomb Group

  • LaVern Young

    Military | Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade) | Gunner | 466th Bomb Group

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Units served with

  • 466th Bomb Group

    466th Bomb Group

    Group
    The 466th Bomb Group flew B-24 Liberators from Attlebridge, Norfolk, during the last year of the war in Europe. The Group flew 232 missions in the course of the year and celebrated the 100th one by inviting local people onto the base to mark the...

  • 787th Bomb Squadron

    787th Bomb Squadron

    Squadron

Aircraft

Missions

  • 665

    5 October 1944

  • 685

    22 October 1944

  • 698

    2 November 1944

  • 715

    16 November 1944

  • 731

    30 November 1944

  • 863

    4 March 1945

  • 894

    18 March 1945

  • 8th Air Force 911

    24 March 1945
    "8th AF Aided Paratroops ...

Associated Place

  • Attlebridge

    Military site : airfield
    Attlebridge was constructed for RAF use and completed to that standard in 1942. However, with news that it was to be assigned to the American Air Force, the runways were extended and additional hardstandings and outbuildings constructed for the heavy...

  • Manston

    Military site : airfield
    Built for Royal Naval Air Service use in the First World War, it was both an RAF and Fleet Air Arm base from 1918-50, and after the war a USAF Strategic Air Command base from 1950-51, a United States Air Forces Europe base from 1950-58, an RAF station...

Events

Event Location Date
Lived in Keene, NH, USA 1942

114 Marlboro Street
466th BG Combat Tour Attlebridge, Norwich, Norfolk NR9, UK 5 October 1944 – 24 March 1945
Mission Manston, Ramsgate, Kent CT12, UK 21 February 1945

Received a flak hit on #2 engine. Landed at an emergency field in France. Ground personnel there would only allow them a small amount of fuel and then made them take off. Flying at 1200 feet at the Channel coast small arms fire knocked out #1 engine and the prop couldn't be feathered. Too low to bail out, being trailed by an RAF crash boat across the Channel, the crew cranked down the landing gear by hand and the pilots crash landed successfully at RAF Manston. Found out later we had overflown Dunkirk at 1200 feet, thus the huge amount of small arms fire.
Died 1971
Nationality
American
Nickname
Not yet known
Service numbers
Not yet known
Highest rank
First Lieutenant
Role/job
Pilot
Awards
Not yet known

Revisions

Date Contributor Update
21 April 2020 00:22:54 466thHistorian Changes to aircraft associations
Sources

466th BG Archives - Report on Mission No 135 Castrop, Germany 2 November 1944
NARA research by Brad Sullivan
Date Contributor Update
18 September 2016 20:20:18 466thHistorian Changes to events
Sources

"Attlebridge Notes" - 1975 466th BGA Register
Date Contributor Update
02 August 2016 01:01:52 466thHistorian Changes to aircraft associations
Sources

466th BG Archives - 4 March 1945 mission formation plan
Date Contributor Update
12 April 2015 03:44:37 466thHistorian Changes to aircraft associations and mission associations
Sources

466th BG Historian
Date Contributor Update
12 April 2015 03:04:44 466thHistorian Changes to biography and events
Sources

466th BG Historian
Date Contributor Update
19 February 2015 20:19:36 466thHistorian Changes to biography and events
Sources

466th BG Historian
Date Contributor Update
01 December 2014 18:22:22 466thHistorian Changes to highest rank, role, events, unit associations and place associations
Sources

Officers of Attlebridge booklet - 1944
Date Contributor Update
27 September 2014 18:23:24 AAM AAM ingest
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Unit roster in the book 'Attlebridge Arsenal' by Wassom & Brassford, page 343

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