Bio

I am the son of a 44th Bomb Group pilot who was shot down over Wiener Neustadt Austria on 1 October 1943. According to the two crew members who were the last men to leave the plane, my dad had kept the plane flying straight and level with the Bomb Bay on fire, but within 3 seconds of those two crew bailing out, the plane exploded. Except for the pilot, all the crew survived in POW camps. I am a retired professor and have six children who know of their grandfather's heroics. He had survived the 1 August '43 Ploesti raid flying co-pilot to Strong, bombing Brazi Blue target--the aviation fuel refinery.