12^th AIR FORCE

57^th BOMB WING

340^th BOMB GROUP (M)

MISSION NOVEMBER 4, 1944

486^th, 487^th , and 489th Squadrons November 4, 1944

Photo Credit: Dan Setzer and 57^th Bomb Wing website

Vilafranca, Italy

486^th BS Mission sheet credit: Herman Voss

Nov 4, 1944 Below credit: Dan Setzer and 57^th Bomb Wing website

488^th

Lt. King, pilot, was drowned and Sgt. Burger, tail gunner never came up. He must have gone down with the plane. The rest of the crew is in the hospital suffering from exposure. Rommel came back. He wasn't on that 489th plane after all.

489^th

The important railroad bridge near Villafranca di Asti came in for a heavy pounding from the Group today. Thirty-four tons of thousand pounders were unloaded withn the vicinity of the target. It will not be necessary for us to return there. But we paid dearly for the success of this mission. One of our planes, 9E, was hit by flak a few minutes off the target and crashed into the city of Alessandria. The ill-fated crew consisted of:

Lt. Rossler, Pilot
Lt. Gittings, Co-pilot
Lt. Newman, Bombardier
Sgt. Harris, Radio Operator
Sgt. Corle, Turret Gunner
Sgt. Mallicoat, Tail Gunner