Robert N. McLean, Jr. Mission on June 16, 1944

June 16, 1944 – Friday

“Feather Merchant”

Mission #12 (13) Target – oil refinery at Bratislava in Czechoslovakia.  Takeoff 0550 Landing 1050 (500) total combat hours 5550.  Load 5000 lbs  Remarks

1)     No 2 engine sprung an oil leak and it had to be feathered.  After continuing in formation for a time, we were ordered to return.

2)     En route home, we prayed that we would encounter no enemy fighter or flak because our lone Liberator with one engine out is duck soup.

3)     Slight barrage of flak encountered over Yugoslav coast

4)     No fighters

5)     Bombs were all safetied and we were ordered to drop them into the Adriatic.  10 bombs salvoed – 5000 dollars wasted

6)     Good three engine landing made by Lt. Johnson.

7)     Casualties none

8)     Squadron lost one plane when a Ju-88 with a  dead pilot at the controls hit head on with a B-24.  Only one chute opened.

9)     Granted one mission because two thirds of our double mission was completed and carried out with great risk by our crew.  Now had 12 missions completed

376 ARCHIVES

The website 376bg.org is NOT our site nor is it our endowment fund.

At the 2017 reunion, the board approved the donation of our archives to the Briscoe Center for American History, located on the University of Texas - Austin campus.

Also, the board approved a $5,000 donation to add to Ed Clendenin's $20,000 donation in the memory of his father. Together, these funds begin an endowment for the preservation of the 376 archives.

Donate directly to the 376 Endowment

To read about other endowment donation options, click here.


My Trip to San Pancrazio

October 2019


Reunion

NOTE change in month !!!

DATES: Oct 26-29, 2023

CITY:Tucson, AZ

HOTEL: Double Tree Suites Airport hotel

7051 South Tucson Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85756

520-225-0800


Click here to read about the reunion details.

previous reunions


For Sale

The Other Doolittle Raid


The Broken Wings of Zlatibor


The Liberandos


Three Crawford Brothers


Liberando: Reflections of a Reluctant Warrior


376th Bomb Group Mission History


The Last Liberator


Full Circle


Shadows of Wings


Ten Men, A "Flying Boxcar," and A War


I Survived Ploesti


A Measure of Life


Shot Down In Yugoslavia


Stories of My Life


Attack


Born in Battle


Bombardier's Diary


Lost Airmen


Langdon Liberando