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The 459th Bomb Group Operations Officer, Capt. Phil McLaughlin, was the Pilot in a radar or ' Mickey Ship ' on July 28th to Bomb refineries at Ploiesti, Romania. Also aboard was Herbert C. Hawkins flying as co-pilot and Adam Wiley as Bombardier. Both were near the end of their tours. McLaughlin ' s crew had all finished up and rotated since Phil had been promoted to Ops officer and he had not been flying regular missions. Squadron Navigation officer Capt Kenneth Kellow and Lt. Harold Kollenberg (He had been part of Ed Murphy ' s crew, but Murphy and others had been shot down in June and were now POWs.) Radar navigator William Van Horn was operating the Mickey radar and presumably the other two Navs were there to observe. Gunners were either volunteers or spares available to complete the crew assignment for the days mission. Sgt Robert Jones was apparently one of the few original contingent EM remaining having been on Lt. leach 's crew and may have been on his last or near last mission. It would seem every one in the crew that day was a seasoned veteran of many missions, even the newer guys like Laughlin and Pennington. At the target Aircraft took a direct flak hit in the bomb-bay and went down in flames.
MACR 7313 lists Sherman as the Flt Engineer and Laughlin as Top Turret Gunner. As this was a Mickey ship, it would have no ball turret as that is where the Radar dome was installed. Usually the Engineer manned that Turret. It may be that Laughlin was Asst. Engineer qualified and was doing Flt. Engineer duties with Sherman for mission qualification as a Lead Crew Engineer. Enlisted crew had another qualification in addition to gunner. Usually Armorer, Flt. Engineer, Radio Operator, combat photographer.
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