Crew 13, U.S. Navy PB4Y-2 "Privateer" Patrol Bomber Squadron VPB-118

Information recounted here was obtained from the VPB-118 book, "The Old Crows, VPB-118, The History of Navy Patrol Bombing Squadron 118." Most of the crew names were compiled by James Pettit. Crew photo courtesy James Pettit of VPB-118.

Crew 13 in front of BuNo 59430 "Twitchy Bitch," probably painted by Hal Olsen — U.S. Navy Photo (Courtesy James Pettit)

PPC Lt. Cmdr. Edward G. "Doc" Binning, Squadron Operations Officer

Crew 13 of VPB-118 consisted of:

(Back L-R) Raymond L. Hunacek AOM1c (1st ordnanceman/starboard waist turret), Glen A. Kirstein ARM3c (2nd radio/forward top turret), Lt. (jg) Frank E. VanDyke (co-pilot), Lt. Cmdr. Edward G. Binning (PPC), Lt. (jg) George E. Todd (co-pilot), Louis J. Imperato ARM2c (3rd radio/tail turret), William W. Fisher S1c(AOM) (2nd ordnanceman, bow turret)

(Front L-R) James A. Galloway AFC2c (bombardier), John D. Tynes ARM2c (1st radio), Merrill E. Drury AMM1c (plane captain/aft top turret), George H. Crenshaw AMM2c (2nd mechanic/port waist turret), Willis L. Thornton, Jr. AOM3c (orndnaceman/gunner, went to Crew 3, which was lost)

Note: later on, this crew's number was changed to 7.

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John Tynes of Crew 7/13 said in the notation for this photo that they are repairing "some holes" on their plane. Photo courtesy John Tynes/Steven Diederich

Running the engines. Notice that the "Twitchy Bitch" nose art is not yet painted. Photo courtesy John Tynes/Steven Diederich