Francis Alexander Pesta

Military

Connections

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Units served with

17th Bomb Group

  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Twelfth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

People

Joseph Leonard Albury

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 17th Bomb Group 95th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: O-747698
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Pilot

Herman Leo Frieden

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 17th Bomb Group 95th Bomb Squadron 12th Bomb Group
  • Service Numbers: 16051044
  • Highest Rank: Private
  • Role/Job: Combat Photographer

Edgar W Hawthorne

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 17th Bomb Group 95th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: O-760120
  • Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Bombardier

Paul Marshall

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 17th Bomb Group 95th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: O-681935
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Navigator

Aircraft

42-107735

  • Aircraft Type: B-26 Marauder
  • Nicknames: Flossie's Fury
  • Unit: 17th Bomb Group 95th Bomb Squadron

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

New Haven, Connecticut 22 October 1919
New Haven, Connecticut 16 October 1940 142 Lloyd Street Worked for A.C. Gilbert Co.

Enlisted

Fort Devens, Massachussets 17 February 1942

Died

Carquieranne, France 20 August 1944 The two sergeants would not be flying with their regular crew. Piloted by Lt. Joseph Albury with Lt. Joseph Casey in the right seat, Flossie's Fury would be the lead ship in their formation. Lt. Edgar Hawthorne was the bombardier, and Sgt. Francis Pesta manned the twin .50s in the tail. Five-Zero also had navigator Lt. Paul Marshall and cameraman Sgt. Herman Frieden on board. Instead of the usual six-man crew, eight men were crammed in. Like many of the other combat crew that day, McCluskey had had bad vibes at the briefing, and when they drew their flight equipment, he had opted to take extra flak jackets; heavily leaded front and back, each weighed almost 20 pounds. A jacket usually hung from the shoulders like an umpire's chest protector, but the crew often took extras and strategically placed them under or over whichever other parts of their anatomy they most wanted to protect. Lt. Ladd Horn was piloting the plane on Five-Zero's left wing. "There was a cluster of four 88mm shells," Ladd says, "and two of them straddled their plane. One burst sheared their right engine completely off its mounting, and the second one blew a large hole in the left side of their fuselage. They held steady for just a moment and then rolled upside-down and began to spin." Cameraman Sgt. Peter Holmes was in the Marauder on Five-Zero's right wing and was aiming a hand-held camera down through the waist window to record the bomb strike when the stricken aircraft flew right into the frame. It was the first aerial photo he had ever taken.

Buried

New Haven, Connecticut Saint Bernard Cemetery New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut, USA

Revisions

Date
Contributor466thHistorian
Changes
Sources

https://flgrube1.tripod.com/id318.html
https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=444419
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/166092421/francis-alexander-pesta
https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2238/images/44002_05_0…
https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8939&h=180210&…
https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2375/images/40050_1521…