Robert N. McLean, Jr. Mission on June 26, 1944

June 26, 1944 – Monday

“Flak should be seen and not heard”

Mission #16,17 – target – Schwechat Air Drome and aircraft plant 3 miles south east of Vienna in Austria.  Takeoff 0530 landing 1340 (0810) total combat hours (8340) Load 5000 lbs (500 lb incendiary clusters – each containing 120 bombs to a cluster.  Remarks

1)     Target effectively bombed and completely destroyed

2)     15th Air Force was out in full strength, attacking targets all around the Vienna area

3)     Flak was very heavy and extremely accurate

4)     We received three terrific flak bursts directly under the ship

5)     One piece of flak 2 inches long cut through the right side of the fuselage in back of the nose and hit the nose wheel guard and nose wheel, then bounced off the nose wheel and after bouncing around it settled on the nose wheel door.  This noisey demonstration was very disconcerting to the bombardier (3 feet behind)

6)     Another flak impact just back of the left side of the nose glanced off (also 3 feet behind the bombardier)

7)     No fighters encountered

8)     This mission ranks second (behind Wiener-Neustadt) as a rough trip

9)     Four planes shot down in our group, but none from our squadron

10)  Chutes all over the sky

11)  Enroute back home, with our co-pilot at the controls, we bumped the rudder of the lead ship with our wing tip – no damage

12)  No casualties

13)  Statistics – total bomb tonnage – 54000 lbs (27 tons)

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