Michael Peter Vono April 21, 1944
April 21st – Headed for Ploesti – Heavy overcast at 11,000 ft. Forced to turn back in middle of Adriatic – Would have been tough one
Some rumors of German paratroops landing between here & Lecca – Heavy guards on planes
Dad’s next outing with his new crewmates is the infamous Ploesti. Normally, they would have climbed to 20,000 feet, but the overcast made that impossible. They probably didn’t have the fuel efficiency below 11,000 feet to make it all the way to Ploesti. By the way, flying at that altitude meant they needed 100 octane fuel which wasn’t easy to get early in the war.
Would it have been tough to see the target, or was he expecting a lot of German resistance at the target? Probably both.
Lecce is 20 miles to the east and slightly south of San Pancrazio.
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.
Reunion
NOTE change in the schedule !!
DATES: Sep 25-28, 2025
CITY:Rapid City, SD
HOTEL: Best Western Ramkota Conference Hotel; 2111 North LaCrosse St., Rapid City, SD 57702; 605-343-8500
Click here to read about the reunion details.
