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Assigned to 490th Bomb Group as one of its original cadre, Gremlin’s Roost is believed to have been painted with its nose art, along with other group B24s, at Mountain Home, Idaho prior to deployment to England. Soon after its arrival in the ETO, the Liberator was transferred to 486th Bomb Group at Sudbury and flew its first mission with them on D-Day. A total of 25 missions were flown between 6th June and 21st July which was the final sortie made by B24s of the 486BG before its changed to the B17 Fortress.
Many of the 486BG’s Liberators were then transferred to the 34th Bomb Group but “Gremlin’s Roost” went to 406th Night Leaflet Squadron to drop propaganda leaflets, flying from Cheddington and coded as J6-M. Here, it was probably painted all over in gloss black to deflect searchlights, like other 406th Liberators, thus obliterating its nose art.
It does not seem to have begun to fly leaflet missions until January 1945 but then commenced a gruelling schedule of 40 more missions. These involved trips to numerous cities across Holland, France and Germany lasting until mid-June, weeks after VE-Day. Some sources indicate "Gremlin's Roost" was assigned to Harrington, top secret base involved in dropping agents and supplies to the Resistance, but this was not the case. It did forceland at Harrington on 12 April '45 with a broken landing gear selector handle but was back at Cheddington for a mission two days later.
Date | Pilot |
Target |
Notes |
6 Jun 1944 | W Dale | (2nd) Thury Harcourt (abortive) | |
7 Jun 1944 | W Dale | Laval / Vitry MYs | |
8 Jun 1944 | W Dale | Cinq Mars | |
12 Jun 1944 | W Dale | Beauvais / Nivellers | |
14 Jun 1944 | W Dale | Lille / Vendville | |
15 Jun 1944 | W Dale | Buc AF | |
16 Jun 1944 | W Dale | Illiers Levegue L/G | |
17 Jun 1944 | G Ashley | Essay L/Grd | |
20 Jun 1944 | R Clinard | (1st) Misburg | |
20 Jun 1944 | W Dale | (2nd) Noball | |
22 Jun 1944 | W Dale | Noball | |
24 Jun 1944 | W Dale | Chartres AF | |
25 Jun 1944 | W Dale | Bourges AF | |
27 Jun 1944 | W Dale | Noball | |
28 Jun 1944 | J C Coats | Coulommiers AF (abortive) | |
1 Jul 1944 | W Dale | Noball | |
2 Jul 1944 | W Dale | NoBall | |
4 Jul 1944 | W Dale | Beaumont-sur-Oise / Creh AFs | R/E (NS) - airborne spare |
5 Jul 1944 | W Dale | Eindhoven AF (abortive) | |
8 Jul 1944 | W Dale | Target Opp AF | |
14 Jul 1944 | W Dale | Peronne | R/E (NS) - mechanical |
18 Jul 1944 | Saarbrucken | ||
18 Jul 1944 | W Dale | Tactical - Caen | |
19 Jul 1944 | F A Hendricks | Saarbrucken | |
21 Jul 1944 | Steiber | Target Opp AF | Last B24 operation for 486BG |
11 Jan 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | ||
14 Jan 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Ailly, Eure | |
18 Jan 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Ailly, Eure | |
19 Jan 1945 | W B Ferguson Jr / J P Rush Jr | Amsterdam -Rotterdam - Utrect | |
22 Jan 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Calais | |
14 Feb 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Budesheim - Schoneken - Lunebach | |
20 Feb 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Hilversum - Zwolle - Leewarden | |
2 Mar 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Hackenbroich - Koln - Lovenich | |
4 Mar 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Koln | |
5 Mar 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Emmerich - Rees - Wesel - Dorsten | |
6 Mar 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Dortmund - Hagen - Memscheid | |
7 Mar 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Gladbeck - Essen - Bolingen | |
8 Mar 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Linz - Bendorf - Kolbezn | |
9 Mar 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Nastatten - Wiesbaden - Lorch | |
10 Mar 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Bendorf - Lahnstein - Braubach | |
18 Mar 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Oppau(?) | |
19 Mar 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Lahnhofen - ? | |
20 Mar 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | ? - ? | |
22 Mar 1945 | F E Dutery / C H Cypra | Gemmersheim - Speyers - Santhofen | |
1 Apr 1945 | M D Wilkes / W D Pickhardt | Arnhem - Loerbeek - Doesburg | |
2 Apr 1945 | M D Wilkes / W D Pickhardt | Wipperfurth - Gummersbach - Berg Gladbach | |
3 Apr 1945 | M D Wilkes / W D Pickhardt | Lorient - St Nazaire | |
4 Apr 1945 | Pardue (?) | ? - ? | |
5 Apr 1945 | S Peresie / W J Smith | Rotterdam (?) | |
9 Apr 1945 | T W Pardue / R W Huntley | Leewarden - Wilhelmshaven | |
10 Apr 1945 | T W Pardue / R W Huntley | Ludescheid - Altema | |
12 Apr 1945 | T W Pardue / R W Huntley | (NS) landed @ Harrington, UC gear selector handle broke | |
14 Apr 1945 | J S Bonner / W L Morgan | Hamburg | |
15 Apr 1945 | T W Pardue / R W Huntley | La Rochelle - Royan - Pt de Grave) | |
16 Apr 1945 | V H Hansen / R F Kreuger | (NS) Oxygen system malfunctioned | |
21 Apr 1945 | B M Halverson / J F Palmer | Ile d'Oleron | |
22 Apr 1945 | T W Pardue / R W Huntley | Kiritz - Rathenow | |
4 May 1945 | B M Halverson / J F Palmer | Zuiderland - Ouitenschild - Burg | |
6 May 1945 | B M Halverson / J F Palmer | Dunkirk | |
9 May 1945 | J E Bingham Jr / W L Michael | Rottrdam - The Hague - Haarlem (bomb doors froze) | |
14 May 1945 | B M Halverson / J F Palmer | Buchenwald camp | |
17 May 1945 | B M Halverson / J F Palmer | The Hague - Amsterdam | |
19 May 1945 | B M Halverson / J F Palmer | Marseilles AF | |
23 May 1945 | B M Halverson / J F Palmer | Bad Nauheim | |
25 May 1945 | B M Halverson / J F Palmer | Bad Nauheim | |
28 May 1945 | B M Halverson / J F Palmer | Bad Nauheim | |
2 Jun 1945 | W A Winburn / W G Pickhardt | Bad Nauheim | |
3 Jun 1945 | R B Ogden / J T Farnkopf | Bad Nauheim | |
8 Jun 1945 | A H Franke / A H White | Bad Nauheim | |
9 Jun 1945 | B M Halverson / J F Palmer | Ahrweiler | |
16 Jun 1945 | V H Hansen / R F Kreuger | Eisleben |