Information about this photograph:

  1. Aircraft No: 43-38661 "Dotty Dee
  2. Tail Letter: P
  3. Fuselage ID: 3O-P
  4. Group/Squadron: 398th, 601st
  5. Official Name of Aircraft: Dotty Dee
  6. Date of Photograph: 07 June 1945
  7. Photo Location: Bradley Field, Windsor Locks, CT
  8. Crew at time of Photograph: Traeder's Crew - PARTIAL
  9. Final Disposition of A/C: Scrapped
  10. Interpretive Comments: 43-38661 was one of the 398th BG's surviving aircraft flown back to the US at the end of the war in the ETO. Per Howard Traeder's memoir: "The Air Echelon was first to depart for the Zone of the Interior, beginning on 26 May 1945, with each plane carrying its crew plus enough passengers, usually ground personnel, to make a total of twenty. Subsequent shipments followed as weather permitted."
    Howard, along with 2 of his regular crew, Frederick C. Bradley, Flight Engineer and Joe Reveman, Radio Op, flew 43-38661 back to the US on June 2nd and arrived at Bradley Field on the 7th of June, 1945. Bernard Devries served as Co-Pilot, Glen Gagon as Navigator and Alcide Forcier was Crew Chief. In addition to this crew, 14 passengers were also assigned to this flight.

Three men have been identified in this photo:

  1. Howard F. Traeder, Pilot. - viewer's far left
  2. Frederick C. Bradley, Flight Engineer - next to Traeder, side of face visable
  3. Joe Reveman, Radio Op - center, hands in pocket, looking at directly at camera

Crew and passengers at the time of the photograph:

    Crew:

  1. 2nd Lt. Howard F. Traeder, Pilot
  2. 2nd Lt. Bernard H. DeVries, Co-Pilot
  3. 1st Lt. Glen S. Gagon, Navigator
  4. T/Sgt. Frederick C. Bradley, Flight Engineer
  5. T/Sgt. Joseph Reveman, Radio Operator
  6. Cpl. Alcide A. Forcier, Crew Chief

    7. Passengers:

  7. Cpl. LLoyd G. Norton
  8. Cpl. Ewald Manschmidt
  9. Cpl. John T. McCarthy
  10. Cpl. Daniel H. Emerson
  11. Cpl. Francis A. Tschann
  12. Pfc Lamar K. Bodell
  13. Pfc. Daniel I. Wygal
  14. Pfc. Robert H. Hynes
  15. Sgt. Thomas A. McLain
  16. Cpl. George E. Hentschel
  17. Pfc. Loren R. Skonberg
  18. Sgt. Renard L. Andrews
  19. T/Sgt. Stephen Mikulka
  20. Cpl. Homer C. Linard

Source Information:

  1. Photo Source: George Hentschel's Photo Collection
  2. Photo Reference: 43-38661-3O-P_19450607
  3. Photographer: George Hentschel
  4. Information compiled by Lee Anne Bradley using Frederick C. Bradley's Operation Orders dated 23 May 1945 and Howard Traeder's memoirs.
  5. If you would like to add information about this photograph, please contact our Aircraft Photo Coordinator. Please include the title.