Michael Peter Vono April 12, 1944

April 12th 

6th & 7th Missions – Weiner Neustadt, Austria – 2 mission rans as spare yanked out of bed at 6:30 – takeoff at 8:00 – R. Waist – Hit flack at ys coast -  Had P-38 escort to target & back – ME-109’s, & flack at target – had to watch 2 ME-109 throw out tinfoil & help ball gunner all at same time. Have not fired at B/A yet – ME-109’s kept off right – Made fast attack at left. – All ships hit by Flack – I had left W/tip shot away – 2 had chunks out of a rudder – we had 3 holes in upper right rudder – several in R/Wing – another hit life raft – total of 9 – Heard crump of flack for first time – landed at 3:15. 

Pilot Lt. Stanchion – ship 84

(Have been airsick each time except 5th Mission)

Sounds like Dad was a very last-minute replacement gunner. His position that day was a side gun on the right. “YS Coast” must be Yugoslavian coast. The Messerschmitt ME-109 is called the backbone of the Luftwaffe’s fighter force. Dad kept watch on the enemy fighters, threw out the tinfoil, and helped a fellow gunner. He kept watch on the enemy fighters because they were using a common and effective maneuver crossing from one side to the other of the gunners’ line of sight. Dad was throwing out “tinfoil” (actually aluminum, but that’s what it was called) to confuse enemy radar.

Gunners often needed help with ammunition, oxygen bottles, or other equipment. This was especially true for the ball turret gunners who could not easily move around or easily get in or out of the ball. For instance, they were totally dependent on crewmembers to swap out their oxygen bottle above them as it got low.

“Have not fired at B/A yet” means… what?  I think it means that at this point in time in this story he had not yet even had a chance to fire his guns.

There was a Lt. Alex T. Stanchon in the 515th. This was his 6th sortie, 9th and 10th mission. 

Apparently, Dad and I had equally weak stomachs. I always got airsick or very nauseous when I had to demonstrate spin recovery in pilot training.

Sometime before this mission, while he was still a pretty new squadron member, Dad got in trouble for an off limits infraction in San Pancrazio. If anyone has any further insight into San Pancrazio off limits infractions, I’d love to hear about it.