| Name |
Pos |
Status |
Date |
Notes |
| 2Lt Robert L. Mundkowski |
P |
UNK |
Feb 1944 |
Replaced as pilot by Lt Couch |
| 1Lt Francis W. Hooven |
CP |
CT |
Aug 1944 |
Awarded DFC |
| 1Lt Robert J. Cavanaugh |
N |
CT |
18 Aug 1944 |
Asst Sta & Group Nav |
| 2Lt Walter I. Nissen |
B |
UNK |
-- |
Unknown |
| S/Sgt Robert R. Mattson |
RO |
CT |
25 Jul 1944 |
Awarded DFC |
| T/Sgt Joe Wagner |
E |
POW |
25 Apr 1944 |
Shot down w/Crew 44 |
| S/Sgt Louis A. Rose |
NTG |
UNK |
-- |
Unknown |
| S/Sgt William F. Stuckey |
TTG |
CT |
Aug 1944 |
Awarded DFC |
| Sgt Theodore Pitcock |
BTG |
UNK |
Fall 1943 |
Replaced before leaving States |
| S/Sgt Charles C. Wright |
TG |
UNK |
-- |
Unknown |
Crew 51, under the command of 2Lt Robert L. Mundkowski, trained together with the 754th Squadron in Tonopah, Nevada during the fall of 1943. Prior to movement overseas, Mundkowski was removed from the crew and 2Lt Robert T. Couch, the co-pilot of Teague Harris’s crew (50) was placed in command of Crew 51. Sgt Teddy Pitcock, ball turret gunner, was also replaced prior to overseas movement by S/Sgt Eugene B. Humbert. The reason for both of these personnel changes is unknown.
The crew flew via the Southern Ferry Route to England. Leaving Hamilton Field with a brand new B-24H on January 19, 1944, stops included Midland, Texas; Morrison Field, Florida; Trinidad in the British West Indies; Natal, Brazil: Marrakech, North Africa: Valley, Wales; and finally on to Horsham St Faith where they arrived on February 5, 1944.
The 458th flew its first combat mission on March 2, 1944, but Crew 51's first mission came on the March 15th raid to Brunswick, Germany. Five additional missions followed, but the crew seemed plagued with bad luck. Three of these five missions were aborted due to mechanical difficulties and one was recalled. In a one-month period, pilot Bob Couch flew seven missions, only three of which were credited sorties.
April 1944 turned out to be a bad month for Crew 51. On the 22nd, the 458th took off late in the afternoon to bomb the marshalling yards at Hamm, Germany. The crew was stood down on this date, but Bob Couch's former crew under Teague Harris was short a co-pilot for this mission so Couch volunteered to fill in. The group returned late in the evening in the darkness and were attacked by German ME-410 night fighters. Two 458th aircraft were shot down close to Horsham, one of these being the Harris crew. While some of the crew were able to bail out successfully, Bob Couch remained in the cockpit with Harris and was killed instantly in the crash. [See Crew 50 page for full story]
Another member of Crew 51 was lost three days later on the mission to Mannheim, Germany. T/Sgt Joe Wagner, flight engineer, was assigned as a fill-in on the crew of 1Lt John Combs (44). The lead squadron was attacked by 20 enemy fighters shortly after crossing the French coast. Combs' aircraft suffered severe damage to the tail, losing at least one rudder, causing an immediate loss of control. The plane crashed near Vitry, France with four of the crew killed. Four other crew members evaded capture and made it safely back to England. Pilot John Combs and Joe Wagner were captured, although Wagner made it to the Spanish border before being caught. They remained POWs until the end of the war.
Taking Wagner's place was Crew 44's engineer S/Sgt Harold L. Holbrook, who eventually completed his tour. Replacing Bob Couch as pilot was the co-pilot of Crew 55, 1Lt James F. Simes. His crew, under the command of 1Lt Stuart Goldsmith, would be forced to land in Switzerland on May 11, 1944. It is not known exactly how many missions Simes flew prior to becoming the first pilot of Crew 51, but records indicate he flew 19 missions with this crew, finishing up on June 24, 1944. On October 31, 1944, Captain Simes was appointed as Assistant Operations Officer for the 754th Squadron. In addition to his missions as co-pilot on Goldsmith's crew, and as first pilot of Crew 51, he flew 15 additional missions as command pilot between November 5, 1944 and April 6, 1945. He was awarded the DFC in May 1945.
After Simes had completed his missions, Frank Hooven became the first pilot of Crew 51. It is believed that he flew at least nine missions (including two aborts) as first pilot of Crew 51 before most of the crew completed their missions on July 25th. Hooven continued to fly with various crews for an additional seven missions, completing his combat tour in mid-August.
Several of the crew are only listed briefly in the 458th records, and it is not known for sure when they completed their combat tour. 2Lt Walter I. Nissen and 2Lt William W. Clark appear to have both flown with crew 51 as bombardier, but nothing is known of their individual missions. Sgt's Louis A. Rose, Eugene B. Humbert, and Charles C. Wright are all assumed to have completed their combat tour at about the same time in late July 1944.
