Michael Peter Vono April 5, 1944

April 5th

3rd & 4th Mission – To Ploesti, Roumania. DIdn’t see a thing because ball turret would not operate properly. – Luckily enemy ships, which were very eager & deadly did not attack our formation because of tight flying – Counted as two missions – with Lt. Grimmer

Surely Dad knew of the ill-fated raid on Ploesti (Operation Tidal Wave) less than a year previous on 1 August 1943. The USA lost 53 of the 177 B-24s sent on that raid from several bomb groups. There were 310 crewmembers killed or missing. Three ships had been lost from Dad’s squadron that day at a time when the 376th (512th, 513th, 514th, 515th Squadrons) probably had 50 aircraft. Sixty years later, Operation Tidal Wave remains a major event in US history and is commemorated in a major exhibit at the USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. 

So, Dad’s second combat mission was to a target famous for wiping out AAF bombers. 

Lieutenant James B. Grimmer was a pilot assigned to the 515th without a dedicated crew.