There is a section in fold3 (I think it is in the FREE section) that contains some details on the missions flown by 497th BG planes. The section starts here:
https://www.fold3.com/image/291/316632850
I went through it see see what could be learned about Thumper and Haynes. When comparing the mission flags we see on Thumper in this photo:
http://www.497thbombgroupb29.org/ima...%20A-21%20.png
we run into a few problems. Haynes appears to have flown the first 15 missions in Thumper as listed on the fold3 pages. The pages and the photo seem to agree at the start. The first mission was to Truk on 30 Oct 44, the 2nd to Iwo Jima on 5 Nov. Then Thumper shows 5 mission flags to Tokyo. The fold3 missions show only 4 Tokyo missions for Haynes (to Musashino which is Tokyo), on 24 Nov, 27 Nov, 29 Nov and 3 Dec, so there seems to be an "extra" Tokyo mission flag on Thumper. (A missing fold3 mission perhaps).
Next, fold3 shows a mission to Iwo Jima on 8 December which was aborted, so no mission flag. This is followed by two missions to Nagoya flown by Haynes. One kill on the 13 Dec mission and 2 kills on 22 December (they also show on the Thumper photo).
Next a mission to Musashino-Tokyo with 1 kill on 27 Dec 44.
Haynes flies to Nagoya on 3 Jan and Osaka on 9 Jan. Then to Nagoya on 14 Jan with 2 kills.
To Nagoya on the 23rd of Jan. Then, on 27 Jan, Haynes flies the 6 kill mission to Musashino-Tokyo. This is the last mission Haynes flies on Thumper according to the fold3 list. In fact, Haynes name does not appear on any further missions for any planes in the fold3 mission list that I could find. (Maybe an extra pair of eyes is needed). Another possibility is he flew other missions in a lead ship but was in the right hand ("co-pilot") seat. He was the squadron commander so he may have been directing the mission but not "flying" the lead ship.
Lamback flys a Super Dumbo mission (target was Kobe) on 4 Feb. Delker flys to Ota on 10 Feb and then J.M. Campbell flys the 15 Feb mission to Nagoya with 1 kill.
Campbell flies several more missions on Thumper (he flew a total of 7). Many other Aircraft Commander (AC) names show up. The fold3 list shows 43 "missions" for Thumper, but 3 of those are Aborts (plane took off but did not get to target) and 2 are Scratches (plane never took off).
Thus we don't get to 40 listed missions for Thumper either. I suspect there may be a few missing missions on the fold3 list. (I know there are errors in at least one of the serial numbers listed, for example). While photos exist of Thumper with all the mission flags in the original format (with names on the bombs and Thumper riding each one) I have not found a photo clear enough to read all the target names. Then, as was mentioned in a prior post, when Thumper was on the bond tour, the nose art had been redone. (Oddly, one name that does not show up at all as a pilot forThumper is Fishburne (see post #8).)
FYI, there is another section on fold3 that has the citations for medals given in the 497th BG. That section starts here:
https://www.fold3.com/image/291/316633395