Olin P Drake
MilitaryRemoved associations not depicted in image and transferred biography to person record.
Lt. Olin P. Drake, from Palisades Park, NJ, flew 49 combat missions with the 368th Fighter Squadron, 359th Fighter Group, from 19 December 1943 through 10 June 1944 when he was shot down and evaded capture.
10 June 1944: The mission developed the first aerial combat the group had encountered since D-Day. It was an eerie business. Everyone was on the deck “strafing,” as the order ran, “everything that moves.” Visibility in the haze and mist under a low ceiling was very bad as the evening darkened - and Focke-Wulfs began flitting by at 100 feet. Pop Doersch got one (his sixth) and Lts. Olin P. Drake and Chester R. Gilmore another while Vince Ambrose damaged a third. Drake, one of the first two replacements pilots in the group (the other, Elmer Dunlap was officially reported a prisoner during the month) did not come back. Flak had separated him from Gilmore, the latter reported. Bomb results that night were good -- tracks repeatedly out, hits on bridges and trestles and choke points. Mist covered the field as the last planes came back at 2235.
20 September 1944: That night there was a major reunion at Wretham Hall as Ettlesen, Drake, Hawkinson, Doersch and McKee returned simultaneously - the first three from months in Europe under cover, the last two from 30 days home leave in the States.
Jan. -June 10, 1944, Missing in Action (MIA), hit by fighters and crashed at La Croix St Lefroy on 10 Jun 44 in P-51B 43-24786 #42103329, evaded
Connections
See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.
Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: P-51 Mustang
- Unit: 359th Fighter Group 368th Fighter Squadron
Places
- Site type: Airfield
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Palisades Park, New Jersey | ||
Other Evaded |
France | 10 June 1944 |
Revisions
359th Fighter Group Association;
Ted Damick, VIII Fighter Command pilots list
Transferred biography by Janet Fogg, 359th Fighter Group Historian from media record
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 5594 / MACR 5594, Unit History / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database