American crew 68 Sqn RAF

[68 Sqn]

Hi everyone
In 68 Squadron RAF in October a November 1944 American crew flew operationally:
Lt.. KELLY John W. (O -?????) - pilot US Navy
Lt.. MARTIN Thomas H. (O -?????) - navigator US Navy
Do you know the service number pilot and navigator?
It is good to be able to say that John Kelly and Tom Martin survived the War.
Can anyone help, please?
Cheers
Pavel

[Frank Olynyk]

Paval,
In the July 1, 1944 USN Reserve Officers Register, there is only one John W Kelly who could be a pilot (rated AV-N; the others are rated as E-VS, D-VG, CC-VS, and A-VS). This Lt(jg) John W Kelly, USNR has a File Number (to use the USN terminology) of 158179. There is no leading letter O in the file number; that was a US Army convention. His date of precedence is March 1, 1944, he was born in 1921, and he enlisted on March 24, 1942. Assuming of course that this is the right person.

There is no Thomas H Martin listed in the above Register. Nor is there a Thomas H Martin in the 1945 USN Regular Officers Register. I would have to suggest that you have misread his middle initial. You should probably go back to your source (the ORB?) and find several references to his name, and see if you can find a different middle letter.

I hope this helps, a little bit.

Enjoy!

Frank.

[68 Sqn]

Frank
Thank you very much for your help.
I looked (Personnel Occurrence Report) POR 68 Sqn.
There is written: Lt. H.T.MARTIN - that's right.

http://www.laarbruch-museum.net/Source/RAF-68.SQD.pdf
is written:
The Squadron had really taken to the American crews, who though more formal than the RAF, were super chaps, and 68 were most upset when Joe Black and Tom Aitken were killed pursuing a flying-bomb. Apparently they followed the bomb into the gunstrip and tragically the guns missed the bomb, but brought down the Mosquito. Soon after this there was another tragedy when Sam Peebles and Dick Grinndal, having been scrambled for anti-diver activity at 22:30 hours and just airborne, reported going over to channel 'D' on the R/T, but crashed near Horstead at 22:33 hours, both were killed. It is good to be able to say that John Kelly and TOM MARTIN survived the War.
Regards Pavel

[68 Sqn]

An interesting detail (from Mr.Leendert)
Lt. John Kelly put HIS experiences in England in a novel called
"The Wooden Wolf".
See http://www.amazon.com/Wooden-Wolf-Jo.../dp/0841504520. He first was a night fighter pilot in the Pacific When ordered to England in June 1944.
Pavel