ÿþ<!-- saved from url=(0022)http://internet.e-mail --> <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>North American Aviation Field Service Representative Charlie Odis Gates</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#CCFFCC"> <Center> <IMG SRC="GatesTitlePage.jpg" Width=519 Height=181 ALT="North American Aviation Field Service Represntative Insignia."> <BR><BR><Font Color=Blue><Font Size=5>North American Aviation Field Service Representative<BR><B>Charlie Odis Gates</B></Font Size=5></Font Color=Blue><BR><BR> <Font Size=4> <IMG SRC="Gates04.jpg" Width=400 Height=631 ALT="Charlie Odis Gates."><BR><BR> Charlie Odis Gates was a civilian Field Service Representative for <a href="http://www.warwingsart.com/12thAirForce/b-25colorphotos.html" target="_blank"> North American Aviation</a> (NAA). Gates was stationed on Corsica in 1944 where he worked with the Air Maintenance Division of the United States Army Air Force Service Command in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (AAFSC/MTO). Field Service Representatives monitored any defects or damage to NAA aircraft (B-25s and P-51s) resulting from normal use, combat, crashes, etc. Although civilians, Gates and other <a href="Quivey01.jpg" target="_blank"> Field Service Representatives</a> wore USAAF uniforms so they would not be tried as spies if captured by the enemy. <BR><BR> Charlie went by his middle name, Odis. He was not an engineer nor did he complete college. Not unusual for his day. He was a trained company technician knowledgeable about the B-25. He eventually worked his way into NAA supervision overseeing engineers. Charlie (Odis) was adept at managing people. <BR><BR> One story Odis shared was about the 319th Bombardment Group which transitioned from Martin B-26 Marauders to North American B-25 Mitchells in November of 1944 at Serraggia, Corsica. The B-26 was known as the  widow maker for several reasons including it could not keep keep up with its formation on a single engine making it an easy target for German fighters. Aircrews mistrusted Odis' claim that the B-25 could keep up with its formation on a single engine. Later, while returning from a mission, all of the B-25s including some on single engine, made it safely back to their base. The crews were overjoyed converts to the Mitchell. <BR><BR><BR> <B><Font Size=5><Font Color=Blue>Photos and History from Odis Gates:<BR> </Font Color=Blue></Font Size=5></B>(provided by his daughter Peggy Gates Hughes and son-in-law John Hughes)</Font Color=Blue></B><BR><BR> <A HREF="Gates03.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates03t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>01 <A HREF="Gates08.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates08t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>02 <A HREF="Gates10.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates10t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>03 <A HREF="Gates12.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates12t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>04 <A HREF="Gates15.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates15t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>05 <A HREF="Gates16.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates16t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>06 <A HREF="Gates14.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates14t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>07 <A HREF="Gates05.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates05t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>08 <A HREF="Gates37.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates37t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>09 <BR><BR> <A HREF="Gates11.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates11t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>10 <A HREF="Gates09.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates09t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>11 <A HREF="Gates06.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates06t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>12 <A HREF="Gates13.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates13t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>13 <A HREF="Gates07.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates07t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>14 <A HREF="Gates32.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates32t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>15 <BR><BR> <A HREF="Gates19.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates19t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>16 <A HREF="Gates22.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates22t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>17 <A HREF="Gates23.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates23t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>18 <A HREF="Gates29.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates29t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>19 <A HREF="Gates31.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates31t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>20 <A HREF="Gates33.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates33t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>21 <A HREF="Gates36.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates36t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>22 <A HREF="Gates28x.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates28xt.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>23 <BR><BR> <A HREF="Gates24.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates24t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>24 <A HREF="Gates25.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates25t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>25 <A HREF="Gates30.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates30t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>26 <A HREF="Gates34.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates34t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>27 <A HREF="Gates38.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates38t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>28 <A HREF="Gates39.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates39t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>29 <A HREF="Gates40.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates40t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>30 <BR><BR> <A HREF="Gates35.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates35t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>31 <A HREF="Gates26.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates26t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>32 <A HREF="Gates21.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates21t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>33 <A HREF="Gates20.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates20t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>34 <A HREF="Gates27.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates27t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>35 <A HREF="Gates28.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates28t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>36 <A HREF="Gates17.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates17t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>37 <A HREF="Gates18.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates18t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>38 <BR><BR> <A HREF="GatesAngel01.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="GatesAngel01.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>39 <A HREF="GatesAngel02.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="GatesAngel02.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>40 <A HREF="GatesAngel03.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="GatesAngel03.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>41 <A HREF="GatesAngel04.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="GatesAngel04.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>42 <A HREF="Gates01.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates01t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>43 <A HREF="Gates02.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Gates02t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>44 <BR><BR><BR> Odis and his wife Marguretta (Peggy) were married for over sixty years at the time of his passing in March of 2001. During the war,<BR> Peggy also worked at NAA, pounding out bomb bay doors for the B-25 Mitchell. She passed away in December, 2008 at 90-years-old.<BR> After a short break following the war, Odis returned to North American Aviation working for the  Autonetics division, which later became  Rockwell. <BR><BR><BR><B>B-25 Nose Art Photos from Odis Gates:</B><BR><BR> <A HREF="GatesAveMaria.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="GatesAveMariat.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>01 <A HREF="GatesBabyBlueEyes.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="GatesBabyBlueEyest.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>02 <A HREF="GatesBoots.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="GatesBootst.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>03 <A HREF="GatesGirlonaSwing.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="GatesGirlonaSwingt.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>04 <A HREF="GatesMama.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="GatesMamat.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>05 <A HREF="GatesPegOMyHeart.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="GatesPegOMyHeartt.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>06 <A HREF="GatesSanAntoneoRose.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="GatesSanAntoneoRoset.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>07 <A 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Height=75></A>18 <A HREF="10000031.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000031t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>19 <A HREF="10000032.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000032t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>20 <A HREF="10000033.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000033t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>21 <A HREF="10000034.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000034t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>22 <A HREF="10000035.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000035t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>23 <A HREF="10000036.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000036t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>24<BR> <A HREF="10000037.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000037t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>25 <A HREF="10000038.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000038t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>26 <A HREF="10000039.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000039t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>27 <A HREF="10000040.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000040t.jpg" Width=75 Height=100></A>28 <A HREF="10000041.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000041t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>29 <A HREF="10000042.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000042t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>30 <A HREF="10000043.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000043t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>31 <A HREF="10000044.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000044t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>32<BR> <A HREF="10000045.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000045t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>33 <A HREF="10000046.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000046t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>34 <A HREF="10000047.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000047t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>35 <A HREF="10000048.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000048t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>36 <A HREF="10000049.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000049t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>37 <A HREF="10000050.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000050t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>38 <A HREF="10000051.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000051t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>39 <A HREF="10000052.jpg" target="_blank"><IMG 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target="_blank"><IMG SRC="10000063t.jpg" Width=100 Height=75></A>51 <BR><BR><BR> Go back to <A HREF="310428.html">428th Bomb Squadron Index</A><BR><BR> Go back to crash landing of B-25 <a href="angel.html" >"Angel of Mercy"</a><br><br> See collision of <a href="8u8p.html"> B25s 8U and 8P</a><br><br> Go back to <A HREF="page.html">main 489th BS page</A><BR><BR> If you have any comments or suggestions please <A HREF="mailto:489thcorsica@gmail.com?Subject=The 321st Bombardment Group"> email me</A>.<BR><BR> <!--WEBBOT bot="HTMLMarkup" startspan ALT="Site Meter" --> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript">var site="sm6Fstella"</script> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript1.2" src="http://sm6.sitemeter.com/js/counter.js?site=sm6Fstella"> </script> <noscript> <a href="http://sm6.sitemeter.com/stats.asp?site=sm6Fstella" target="_top"> <img src="http://sm6.sitemeter.com/meter.asp?site=sm6Fstella" alt="Site Meter" border=0></a> </noscript> <!-- Copyright (c)2000 Site 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