About

Dedicated to my father Philip L. Davis, the air and ground crew of the Crow's Nest, and all of the men of the 453rd Bombardment Group, Old Buckenham, England. Dad was with the radar maintenance ground crew on Crow's Nest.

Crow's Nest

Crow's Nest:
B-24 Liberator
Serial Number 42-95303
Designation B-24H-30-FO
Letter D.

Crow's Nest in Flight:


Crow's Nest on the Ground:
(Photos Courtesy of Stuart J. Wright)

Crow's Nest Crew

The pilot in the photo (top left, back) is Alex J. (Jean) Crow, namesake of the original Crow's Nest. The nose art was painted on at West Palm Beach Florida shortly before he ferried it across the Atlantic to Africa then around Spain to England. He flew all of his combat missions in the second Crow's Nest. He flew the ship from May 22, 1944 to August 19, 1944. He turned 22 the day after he finished his last mission.

After completing his 35 missions he relinquished the second Crow's Nest and rotated back to the USA. He received both the Air Medal and the DFC for his service in the Crow's Nest.

He believes the first one (below, the one with the 466th BG) was shot down over Belgium.

- William Crow

LIfe at Old Buck

Philip L. Davis (Beloit, Wisconsin):

Philip L. Davis and Willie Plummer (Oshkosh, Wisconsin):

Philip Davis and Frank Lopresto:

Willie Plummer and Philip L. Davis:

Frank Lopresto (Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania) and Willie Plummer:

Frank Lopresto and Willie Plummer:

Willie Plummer, Joel White (Carolina) and unknown:

Joel White (from one of the Carolinas) worked at the PX:

Joel White:

Chaplain's Assistant. Someone screwed up and he was left overseas when the rest returned home:

Quonset hut:

Quonset hut interior and bed (with pin-ups):

More Quonset huts:

Salvation Army donut bus:



Army Exchange Service Ration Card ETOUSA, issued 14 Jan, 1945:

Silent Yokum

Andrew Hill provided this photo of the "Silent Yokum" crew which was taken June 1944 at Westover Field, Mass. On the 16th September 1944 at 16.00hrs approx, the "Silent Yokum" was in collision with another plane over Bardney, Lincolnshire, England. This occurred at 20,000ft where the other plane was suffering from turbulance and as it righted itself took off the tail of the "Silent Yokum."

Standing Left - Right:
A. Florida ( Assistant Engineer ) Saved,
H. Burton ( Armourer ) Saved,
G. Goodman ( Tail gunner),
E. Baranski ( Assistant radio operator ) saved,
P. Hudson ( Engineer )
J. Miazur ( Radio operator ).

Squating Left - Right:
E. H. Vickers ( Co - pilot ),
Edward Lincoln Stutzman ( Navigator ),
L. Hurst ( Bombardier )
A.L. Williams ( Pilot )

Mike Harris, Tom Brittan, and Ken Nellis provided more information:

The crash report write up gives us a fairly good idea of the circumstances surrounding the collision at 1650 hrs on 16th September 1944. The write up for 42-51331 'SILENT YOKUM' is as follows:

"On 16th September 1944, at 1411, 1st Lt. Archibald L. Williams in A/C 42-51331, B-24J, took off as lead of "B" Group in a Wing Practice Mission. Assembly was normal; and formation was excellent. Shortly after bombs away, during the turn for the rally point, Lt. Williams' aircraft was struck from below by A/C 42-95361, piloted by Captain Bell, flying No.3 position. Lt. Williams' aircraft was broken apart at the waist. Only one crew member was able to bail out of the aircraft".

The crash reports state that the collision was at Bodney, Norfolk. It might be worth finding out if the 352nd Fighter Group have a veterans association. They were based at Bodney - one of their number might have witnessed the collision.

The weather at the time of the crash is stated as 4/10 coverage at 3000ft. Visibility 8 miles. Wind west at 15 mph.

The crew list for 42-51331 as given in the crash report is as follows. I've left spellings exactly as they appear in the report:

P WILLIAMS, ARCHIBALD L. 0-813627 1st Lt Deceased
CP VICKERS, ERNEST M. 0-500223 2nd Lt Deceased
CA COCKEY, JOHN O. 0-433478 Major Deceased
N STUTZMAN, EDWARD L. 0-712694 2nd Lt Deceased
B HURST, LEROY F. 0-769129 2nd Lt Deceased
O(P) PEACE, STUART M. 0-802303 1st Lt No Injury Used parachute
O(P) DECK, FREDERICK J. 0-823816 2nd Lt Deceased
PN DOUGLAS, SEATON T. T-125539 F/O Deceased
RO MAZUR, Joseph Z. 12174007 T/Sgt Deceased
E HUDSON, Phillip (NMI) 32187019 T/Sgt Deceased
G GOODHAND, George M. 12225449 S/Sgt Deceased"

You will note that there is no mention of crewmen Florida, Burton and Baranski. Neither are they mentioned in the crash report for the other B-24 involved in the collision - 42-95361.

According to the crash report for 42-95361, "Captain Bell.... made the turn too short after the rally point and came up under the lead aircraft (42-51331). He attempted to dive his aircraft but was caught in the prop wash, and the tail sections of the two aircraft collided"

Liberty Run

Sent from Derek Ernst:

"I am the boy in the picture next to santa and the American airforce officer, wearing the battledress with hands in pocket. My mother, brother and myself lived in Banham rectory. My mother was French from Alsace and isolated from her family throughout the war. Because of the French connection I was chosen to name the aircraft [I christian this ship The Liberty Run] I became very uneasy about doing this after a few practices and the task was given to a girl called Elizabeth(?) from Attleborough or Old Buckenham. I stood nearby and after the naming I carried the first sack of mail on board the aircraft.

"Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the event, I remember the day reasonably well, particularly the excellent treats the Americans gave the many hundreds of children who were there. I always remember this unusual tall gawky American, which I now think was James Stewart.

"I think it was the following day we received a message at school telling us she had made her first run over France and dropped the presents. A couple of years ago we were watching one of the last episodes of the World at War, I had to explain my great excitement to my wife after jumping out of the chair when the 'Liberty Run' came on the screen.

"My brother served for 40 years in the RAF. WO John Ernst. He served at quite a number of Norfolk bases; Swanton Morley, Saint Faiths, etc. Waddington, Chief Tech of a Vulcan squadron. I served in the RN, then moved to Australia, joined Civil Aviation and had a career in Air Traffic."

- Derek Ernst

Other Ships

Philip L. Davis with Silent Yokum:


Willie Plummer with Crow's Nest:


Hustlin' Hussy:


Male Call: