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The Gremlin Gus emblem was designed by staff at Walt Disney for an animated movie which was based on Dahl's story but did not come to fruition. Gremlin Gus was an old but wise character allegedly married to a Fifinella. He has more recently reappeared in Disney's "Epic Mickey" adventure game for Nintendo's gaming console.
The 388th carried two similarly named Forts on its inventory. "Gremlin Gus II" survived at least 55 combat missions before being declared "WW" war weary and transferred out to be converted for the Aphrodite Project. This conversion involved the removal of the cockpit roof to create an open top to facilitate the easy escape of the pilots once the aircraft (packed with high-explosive) had been switched to remote control and aimed at the target. It was never actually used and in June 1946 was finally scrapped.
It flew it's first mission on 13 August 1943 to Bonn and as many as eleven of its early sorties were then flown by Lt Ralph Jarrendt's crew. Later Robert Olin took it for a further ten missions and the crew dubbed it "Olin's 69ers" (although no image has yet come to light to show if this was ever actually painted in the aircraft.
"Gremlin Gus II" survived numerous attempts to bring it down by the flak crews below. Ralph Jarrendt sustained hits on three consecutive raids in September '43 and Olin's took severe damage on 13 December and was hit again on the 30th. Patched up, it was taken by Lt Sande's crew on 5th January but received another beating from flak and 20mm cannon fire which was serious enough to put the plane out of action for the rest of the month. The final recorded mission was flown on D-Day to strike the invasion beaches in France.
Date | Pilot |
Target |
Notes |
13 Aug 1943 | Cunningham | Bonn | R/E (NS) - oxygen (BT) |
15 Aug 1943 | R T Jarrendt | Merville-Lille | |
16 Aug 1943 | D Karnezis | Poix-Abbeville | |
17 Aug 1943 | R T Jarrendt | Regensburg | |
24 Aug 1943 | R T Jarrendt | Bordeaux | |
27 Aug 1943 | D Karnezis | Watten | |
31 Aug 1943 | R T Jarrendt | Brussels | |
2 Sep 1943 | E S Melville | Brussels | |
6 Sep 1943 | R T Jarrendt | Stuttgart | Cat A - flak + emg |
7 Sep 1943 | R T Jarrendt | Watten | Cat A - flak |
9 Sep 1943 | R T Jarrendt | Paris | Cat A - flak + 20mm |
26 Sep 1943 | O C Ingebritsen | Rheims-Champagne | Cat A - flak |
2 Oct 1943 | R T Jarrendt | Emden | |
4 Oct 1943 | R T Jarrendt | Frankfurt | |
9 Oct 1943 | G K Penton | Gdynia | Cat A - 20mm |
14 Oct 1943 | A A Chaffin | Schweinfurt | |
11 Nov 1943 | R T Jarrendt | Munster | |
13 Nov 1943 | R T Jarrendt | Bremen | |
16 Nov 1943 | R J Olin | Rjukan | (RW) gloves burned out |
19 Nov 1943 | R J Olin | Gelsenkirchen | |
29 Nov 1943 | R J Olin | Bremen | |
5 Dec 1943 | R J Olin | Bordeaux | |
11 Dec 1943 | O C Ingebritsen | Emden | |
13 Dec 1943 | R J Olin | Kiel | Cat AC - flak |
22 Dec 1943 | J A Wisehart | Munster | |
24 Dec 1943 | R E Bohne | Maison Ponthieu (B) V-site | Camera a/c |
30 Dec 1943 | R J Olin | Ludwigshaven | Cat A - flak |
4 Jan 1944 | R J Olin | Munster | Cat A - flak |
5 Jan 1944 | J M Sande | Bordeaux | Cat A - flak + 20mm |
4 Feb 1944 | R F Reed | Frankfurt | Flew with 96BG |
6 Feb 1944 | R H Fisk | Romilly | |
8 Feb 1944 | R J Olin | Frankfurt | |
20 Feb 1944 | R J Olin | Posnan | Cat A - flak |
21 Feb 1944 | R J Olin | Brunswick | |
29 Feb 1944 | W E Hulcher | Brunswick | |
6 Mar 1944 | R H Thompson | Berlin | Cat A -flak |
8 Mar 1944 | R H Thompson | Berlin | |
15 Mar 1944 | M T Stuart | Brunswick | |
16 Mar 1944 | R W Owens | Augsburg | |
20 Mar 1944 | R L Campbell | Frankfurt | |
22 Mar 1944 | R H Thompson | Berlin | |
23 Mar 1944 | R H Thompson | Brunswick | R/E (NS) |
29 Mar 1944 | G Montgomery | Chateaudun | |
8 Apr 1944 | M P Soldato | Achmer | |
13 Apr 1944 | R H Thompson | Augsburg | |
22 Apr 1944 | J J Gabler | Hamm | |
8 May 1944 | J J Gabler | La Glacerie | |
12 May 1944 | G A Little | Brux | R/E (NS) - gas leak |
13 May 1944 | D G McArthur | Osnabruck | Cat A Flak + shell cases |
19 May 1944 | H E Maple | Berlin | |
24 May 1944 | S Hanuschak | Berlin | |
25 May 1944 | H E Maple | Liege | |
27 May 1944 | A M Codding | Strausbug | |
29 May 1944 | G Montgomery | Leipzig | |
6 Jun 1944 | R M Rowe | French coast | |
25 Jun 1944 | Transferred to Aphrodite project | ||
24 Jun 1946 | SALVAGED |