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Guerino Del Pesco, 1st Lt. Navigator
394th BG, 586th Squadron
43-34456, 394BG, 586BS, "ME LIE FO"
9 Nov 44 to 18 Nov 44 flak under right engine, blew off outer
wing panel, went over onto right wing, pulled up, rolled over on back, bomb bay
door fell off went into a spin, at approx 1,000ft, one chute seen, crashed and
exploded in town of Gey/Hurtgenwald 8 miles SW of Duren, Germany
Capt. Charles J. DeRitis P; Lt Col Clarence A Howard C/P; 1.Lt Guerino Del Pesco
N; Capt Frank J Forrest G/N; 1.Lt Gordon Boyle B; T/Sgt's Wilbur Junkins E/G;
Albert J. Di Luzio R/G; S/Sgt William Muller T/G; Sgt David T Vreeland A/G (All
crew killed)
***
I can add this extra information on the mission, and aircraft in
which 1Lt.Guerino Del Pesco was killed on 18 November 1944:
Aircraft 43-34456, “Mi Lei Fo”, coded H9-H, 394th BG / 586th BS.
The aircraft was shot down by flak on the 18th November 1944 mission to bomb a
German supply depot at Gey, Germany.
For this mission the 394th BG dispatched 30 aircraft + 3 additional aircraft to
drop “Window” to disrupt the radar controlled flak guns.
The formation was comprised of two boxes of 16 aircraft each with a Pathfinder
aircraft leading each box.
The first box bombed on pathfinder lead, the pathfinder aircraft leading this
box was 41-31722 flown by Capt. Matthew H T Ferguson.
The pathfinder aircraft leading the second box, 43-34206 flown by 1Lt. Walter P
Markot suffered equipment failure and aborted before reaching the target. The
second box was too far behind the first box to bomb on its lead, so the box
leader, Capt. Charles J DeRitis, flying “Mi Lei Fo” took the aircraft round for
a second run on target to release bombs visually.
It was on this second run that “Mi Lei Fo” took a direct flak hit under the
starboard engine on the approach to the target. The outer portion of the
starboard wing was blown off. The aircraft reared up then rolled over and went
down in a spin at 1347 hours, crashing about 400 yards north of the town of Gey.
One chute was reported by other aircraft in the formation shortly before the
aircraft crashed, but it is believed that it did not open properly. All of the
crew were killed.
The crew were:
Capt. Charles J DeRitis (pilot)
Lt. Col. Clarence A Howard (co-pilot) – Group Operations Officer.
1Lt. Guerino Del Pesco (Navigator). Lt. Pesco had been awarded his 9th Oak Leaf
Cluster this month.
Capt. Frank J Forrest (GEE operator) – Squadron Navigator.
1Lt. Gordon Boyle (Bombardier). Lt. Boyle had been awarded the DFC and his 8th
Oak Leaf Cluster this month.
T/Sgt. Wilbur E Junkins (Engineer/gunner). T/Sgt. Junkins had been awarded his
9th Oak Leaf Cluster this month.
T/Sgt. Albert J DiLuzio (Radio operator/gunner)
S/Sgt. William R Muller (tail gunner/armourer)
Sgt. David T Vreeland (extra gunner)
Ironically the “Window” dropped had no effect on the accuracy of the flak, which
was most likely visually tracked, and not radar tracking type.
“Mi Lei Fo” was a replacement aircraft received by the 394th BG on 30th October
1944. It was lost on only it’s second combat mission. It was scheduled to fly on
a combat mission on 9th November, but failed to take-off. The first combat
mission flown was on 17th November, the day before it was shot down. The loss of
this aircraft and crew is covered by MACR#
10465.
Paul Clouting
B-26 Historian
***
Murfield, Summner, Cox and crew
Thomas, pilot; Burton, co-pilot; LaRock, bombardier, navigator; engineer/turret
gunner, radio/waist gunner, tail gunner
"Tom, Ted and I talking about the mission."
Hughes, Heistand, Cannon, Simms, Venrody, Kula
42-96039, 394BG, 586BS, "POONTANG"
20 Apr 44 engine failure just after take off pilot turned to left but did not
jettison bombs due to houses below. Pilot decided to make a landing on runway 9
his landing gear was down and locked but was on a collision course with B-26's
taking off. Gear raised hopped over an a/c taking off and crashlanded to the
side of runway 9. Aircraft salvaged
1.Lt.Junior D. Murfield P; 2.Lt James K Summer C/P; 1.Lt Thomas B Cox B/N; T/Sgt
Thomas B Macia E/G; S/Sgt Ralph A Higgins R/G; S/Sgt Robert L Tipton. (All crew
safe)
586th Bomb Squadron Maraudermen
586th Bombardiers - Joost, Larson, Boyle, Kiesicker, March, Brian Cannon or John
L. Cannon, Dick V. Stith, Louis or Lewis Lessure, LaRock,