The Fuson crew was one of ten crews specially trained in the AZON Project.  They came to the 753rd Squadron as a group in May 1944 and participated in several AZON missions in June 1944.

Records are not complete and it appears that Fuson's crew flew only two AZON missions and then commenced flying with the group on operations.  The crew had flown half of their missions by the end of August and were sent on leave.  Upon their return the 458th was in the middle of the "Truckin'" missions, hauling gasoline to Patton's Third Army in France.  It is unknown if Fuson's crew participated in any of these missions, but their combat flying resumed on the October 3rd mission to Gaggenau, Germany.  The second half of their missins were completed by the end of December 1944 and they were sent to the Casual Pool at the 70th Replacement Depot in January to be rotated back to the States.

Fuson's crew flew the aircraft they came over in, B-24J 44-40288 "Bad Girl" on thirteen missions, the last on August 24, 1944.  They might have continued flying "their ship" had not the crew of Lt Arthur C. Akin had some engine trouble and pancaked the aircraft onto the field on October 2nd.

It is believed that T/Sgt Emilo DaBramo, radio operator, completed his tour with the crew in December.  He is last mentioned in group and squadron records in September 1944.

                                                                                             Missions compiled from 458th group records

Photo courtesy: Anne Zimmer

Crew member examining "Bad Girl" after her forced landing from a practice mission

2Lt Arthur C. Akin Statement: "The takeoff runway was 23, with a formation taking off on a practice mission.  I pulled to the right side of the runway to avoid filling the runway with prop wash from my engines.  On the green light I advanced the throttles and began rolling down the runway.  Number one engine suddenly revved up and pulled one wheel just of the runway but was straightened out without difficulty.  I was soon off the ground and making my turn to Splasher 5 when I noticed a great pressure on the right rudder.  At about the same time my engineer tells me that number 1 engine is on fire.  The co-pilot and I had checked for number 1 being out and proceeded to cut the engine and try to feather it, but the oil tank exploded, blowing a hole in the top of the cowling, and there was no oil pressure.  We made a turn back to the field and called the tower for landing instructions and were told to use runway 05. 

Our altitude was too low to allow the crew to bail out safely and I didn’t believe there was any danger of the empty auxiliary tank exploding so I advised the crew to jump if they liked, but I thought their chances were better with the ship.

I dropped 10 degrees of flaps to gain altitude and was pulling 42 inches of manifold pressure, 2450 RPM.  When I turned on the approach I had reached 800 feet.  I let down onto the field making a high approach, cut off all power by the throttles and [illegible] out the rudder trim.  The landing was with a slight crosswind from the left, so when I landed, I thought the wind was pulling me to the left and I applied full right rudder, but it continued its merry way to the edge of the runway.  I applied power to number 2 engine, but it went off the runway, hit a pile of sand and washed out the landing gear, nose wheel collapsing at the sand pile and the left main gear immediately afterward.

On looking at the tire, I found a hole burned through the rubber, and my [illegible] gunner heard it blow out when the wheels first touched the ground.  A portion of the rim of the wheel was found just off the runway.  One crew member received a few bruises, the others were unhurt."

Courtesy: Judith Taylor