This page information & images were submitted by Douglas J. Emlen, Professor of Biology at the University of Montana. Roswell M. Austin, Jr. is his great uncle. A number of these images were taken by the 25th Photo Recon Squadron - 6th Photo Recon Group.
" I am trying to track down information on the 90th squadron of the 3rd
attack group. My great uncle, Roswell Mears Austin Jr., was a tail
gunner in an A-20 in that squadron (‘Hell’s Fire”) from March 1944
through the
end of the war. He left me with a stack of aerial photos captured from
his missions, and his “yearbook” for the unit (The Reaper's Harvest). I know
that at one point he was shot down, and he and the pilot had to survive
in lifeboats for a while (during which time
Japanese fighters strafed them), but he never was willing to tell his
story (He refused to talk about any of the details, and I learned about
the incident from his daughter, who is Australian). I have not been able to learn any more,
but I keep trying."
Douglas J. Emlen
