Posted by Alan Morton on 5/4/2007, 7:18 pm, in reply to "750th Cheryl Ann"
75.83.113.51

Hi Jason ... I notice you spell your last name Saulsberry and your Grandfather's last name is spelled Saulsburry. If you go to the Home Page and click on the button entitled "Roster" you'll find out "There are over 4636 names listed in this folder, each representing one airman who flew with the 457th Bomb Group." Additionally, the 457th Bomb Group (H) was activated as part of the 8th Air Force in early 1944 and flew it's last combat mission in May, 1945 (roughly a year and a half). Out of the 4,636 airmen, only a small portion of that number actually joined this 457th Bomb Group Association started away later after WWII was over and just a memory until 1971 when Homer Briggs ran into an old Air Force 457th BG buddy at a gas station ... 25 years after the fact. The byproduct was Homer started up a REUNION of old 457th BG buddies. Could be that your Grandfather Jay Saulsburry, when he was discharged, was preoccupied with work, college or marriage. The point is there are no records that show your Grandfather ever joined the Association. So actually Jason the ball is really in your court ... you actually know more than we do about Jay Saulsburry. So acknowledging the above fact ... we can help you a lot, but you've got to tell us about the crew he flew with in combat by name and position they flew aboard a B-17 Flying Fortress. When he was stationed at Glatton Air Field in England. Was he an Officer or an Enlisted man? If we have the above information we can run down the combat missions he flew from the Loading Lists. Waiting to hear from you Jason! Cheers, Alan Morton

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Posted by Claude (Sully) Sullivan on 5/5/2007, 6:36 pm, in reply to "750th Cheryl Ann"
64.12.116.6

Jason, I flew two missions,(Schkeuditz Germany, August 16 and and Keil Germany, August 30) with Scott Ormsby and your grandfather Jay, but am sorry to say that I did not know him and thus cannot provide any formation about him and his airplane. Sorry about. Hope someone who knows about your grandfather will respond to your request.

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Posted by Alan Morton on 5/5/2007, 8:56 pm, in reply to "750th Cheryl Ann"
75.83.113.51

First of all Jason, Fighter Pilots (often) had their own P-38, P-40; P-51 and P-47's (with their own pet names attached thereto) as the fighters came off the production line and assigned to fighter combat stations. In most cases there were more fighter aircraft produced than bombers. Secondly, B-17, B-24 and B-26 bomber crews had a set number of combat missions to fly before returning to the States. So if a bomber crew arrived at the 457th BG station, from arrival to return to the states was approximately a period of six (6) month. Thirdly, bomber crews did not fly the same bomber aircraft on every mission 24-7 month after month, and every bomber had it's own down-time for repair. Fourthly, the individual aircraft crew-chief might have personally given HIS bomber it's name. And lastly, the initial Flight Crew that named THEIR bomber ... completed their missions and had returned to the States. So, the odds are the bomber your Grandfather flew in periodically named Cheryl Ann was not his plane. Now, if you go to the Home Page and click on the button "Aircraft Database" ... you'll see a list of all of the B-17 Bombers assigned to the 457th Bomb Group, but not totally. Many of the Bombers were transfered "into and out of" the various Bomb Groups or returned to the States. If an aircraft had been given a pet name, that name is list along side the A/C serial number. The only way to find the Cheryl Ann pet name is to know the A/C serial number. You'd have to go through ALL the Loading List missions that your Grandfather flew on and pick up the A/C last three numbers of the A/C serial number shown on the Loading List near the Pilot's name.

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Posted by Alan Morton on 5/5/2007, 9:20 pm, in reply to "750th Cheryl Ann"
75.83.113.51

By the way Jason your Grandfather held the rank of a Technical/Sgt. and was the Flight Crew Radio Operator

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