Hi all,
 
As some of you know, I've been working on the CAF B-24 "Ol'927" for a while. On Sunday I walked in the hangar and, for some reason, headed straight to the nose and stared at the Sperry bombsight installed in our airplane. I wasn't sure why at the time, but Monday evening my wife called and told me that a good friend of mine, Wayne Allen, from McCook, Nebraska, had died on Saturday. Wayne had been a member of the development team that worked with Sperry to improve the S-series bombsight and A-series autopilot for the AAF. After a time he was transferred to the 445th Bomb Group and trained with them, eventually heading to Tibenham as an Ordnance Officer. He was a typical WWII vet, didn't really say much about his experiences. One of his few stories was about the English fog. He and another officer were walking the perimeter late one night checking on guard posts when his buddy walked into the south end of a northbound horse! Wayne said he could smell the critter, but they never saw it 'till they hit it.
 
Godspeed, my friend.
Scott

Scott:
 
We will miss all of our WW2 vets, but the air crews and those who supported them are special.  Thank you for the notice - I will update the 445th's 'Folded Wings' page.  I had his name but somehow it was associated with the 703rd Bomb Squadron although he never flew a mission (according to 445th records).

Mike Simpson
Webmaster & Unit Historian
445th Bomb Group (Heavy)
www.445bg.org
VP, 445th BG, Kassel Mission Historical Society
www.Kasselmission.com

Mike,
 
I seem to remember that Wayne was indeed assigned to one of the Squadrons of the 445th as Ordnance Officer, but he was the bombsight/autopilot "expert" for the entire Group.
 
Wayne took hundreds of photographs of people, places, and airplanes of the 445th when he was in England. He "smuggled" the film back to the States at the end of the war, and only started developing the photos four or five years ago! I've been fortunate enough to see some of the pictures, and if his family will give me permission I will try to obtain copies to share here.
 
Scott

Scott:
 
Before his death, he sent several photo albums to Linda Dewey, President of the Kassel Mission Historical Society.  Linda had scanned those pictures, with Wayne's permission, and has some of them available.  I'll forward her email to you with the link to the photo albums.  There are some truly remarkable photos.
 
Mike

Mike Simpson
Webmaster & Unit Historian
445th Bomb Group (Heavy)
www.445bg.org
VP, 445th BG, Kassel Mission Historical Society
www.Kasselmission.com

Hi Scott,
 
We were in the middle of transcribing Wayne's diaries and scanning his unbelievable photo albums sent to us by his wife with his okay from the nursing home when Mrs. Allen called the day he passed away. I spent the rest of the weekend finishing up the job and sending everything off to her overnight Monday for the funeral, along with a DVD of his pictures sent to music that they used at the funeral home.
 
Captain Allen (at that time--he retired a full colonel) was in charge of 702nd Squadron Bombardment for the 445th Bomb Group. I can send you a link to his pictures that I have on the kodak.com site if you like. I can also send you a copy of his diary, which is just amazing--as well as his pictures.
 
We're carrying excerpts of his diary and also of the diary of Bob Toeppe, who was 703rd Squadron Navigator on his second tour with the 445th.
 
Were you in the 445th Scott?

Linda Alice Dewey, President
Kassel Mission Historical Society
http://kasselmission.com