Smithwick, Michael Hayes

Crew History

The Carrington Crew was the first one to be assigned to the 545th BS of the 384th BG - becoming its "Model Crew" and "Crew 51" (crew #1 of the 545th) - on 31 December 1942 at Gowen Field, Boise, Idaho. They flew to Wendover a few days after the ground echelon entrained for the transfer.
Information on the original members of this crew is sketchy, with only Carrington identified by name. The first indication of assignment is in the 31 December 1942 "morning report" (MR) of the 545th BS, which reads "3 2nd Lts, 2 S/Sgts, 3 Sgts" were assigned. Martin-Vegue and Smithwick were the other 2 Lts, and Schmidlapp and Perrotti were the S/Sgts, based on the 6 January 1943 MR. The identity of other members is unclear, and have been tentatively identified based on the 17 May 1943 overseas movement order. Floyd M Wingate joined the 545th as a member of the Myer Crew, but transferred to the Carrington Crew before moving overseas. It is clear that co-pilot Roberts arrived on 15 January 1943 and was later given his own crew; he was replaced by Harvey C Esty (Lecates original co-pilot) prior to transfer overseas. Additional crew changes occurred after arriving in England.
Carrington's crew were shot down on 12 August 1943 mission to Gelsenkirchen, Germany, aboard B-17F 42-3231 "THE INFERNO".