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S/Sgt Sidney ("Sid") Rivers Ayres

 747^th Bombardment Squadron

 Photo taken at Tonapah, NV

S/Sgt Sidney ("Sid") Rivers Ayres flew 50 missions as a tail gunner on a B-24 with the crew of Dave Ogden.  Captain Ogden's crew originally flew a B-24 over to Italy that had a shark's mouth painted on the nose.  This aircraft was taken from them and they flew their missions in at least two other aircraft, one named "Worry Bird" and another named "Fat Stuff".

Sgt. Ayres flew his first combat mission on 18 May 1944 and his last was on 18 September 1944.  He kept a souvenir of this mission: a safety pin from one of the bombs.

Sid Ayres returned to the US on 28 October 1944 by sea... after all of that flying the Army thought it best that he return on a surface ship.  He continued to serve in Tonopah, Nevada, as well as places in Kansas and Washington, and finally arrived home on 11 October 1945. 

Sgt. Ayres was awarded the Air Medal, the Good Conduct Medal and a Campaign Medal.

Sgt. Ayers recorded his experiences in a small tablet. He wrote down the bases and towns he stopped at during his trip to Italy on the first page and on the second page he listed his crew. On the next 5 pages he recorded every mission he flew on, including the date, the target and the bomb load. The last page is another record of every place he was stationed and was probably written by his mother.

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Ogden crew with "Worry Bird"  

Standing (L-R) --  Bill Coates, Co-pilot; Jerry Baldwin, Navigator; Manny Liftshitz (changed name to Lawrence)- Bombadier; Dave Ogden- Pilot

Kneeling (L-R)  -  Bob Laird,Top Turrent Gunner; Sid Ayers- Tail Gunner; Bill Hudson, Radio Operator; Bob Gill, Engineer; Tony Arpaia, Nose Gunner; Eddie Ryan, Ball Turret Gunner

Photo of "Fat Stuff" --  Posing with the photo is Eddie Ryan, the ball turret gunner (who may also have been the artist who drew the nose art?).

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Left, Co-pilot Bill Coates; Right, Pilot Dave Ogden

Webmaster's note: a very special thanks to Steve Cole for providing these photos and the information on Sid Ayres. Steve has created a webpage that has higher resolution photos and a mission listing as well for Sid, which can be seen at http://members.aol.com/HizBeluved/WW2/SgtAyres/Ayres.htm

Nathanial S. Burgess, pilot, standing at left. Remaining names unknown at this time. 

Courtesy Bob Burgess

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