9th Air Force
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Lt. Robert J Nespor, killed in action on 1 August 1943. Lt. Nespor was reassigned to fly Lt. John S. Young's regular airplane, 'KICKAPOO' with his copilot. Lt. John Clark Riley for the Ploesti mission to bomb the oil refineries. Nespor and Riley were killed just after takeoff when 'KICKAPOO''s #4 engine failed and caught on fire. The plane's wing hit a concrete pole on landing cartwheeling the plane into the ground in flames. All but two of the plane's crew were KIA, with two WIA. 1 Aug 1943. Both pilots, Lt. Nespor and Lt. John C. Riley were posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart for their bravery and sacrifice for the Ploesti mission.
Connections
Units
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344th Bomb Squadron
Established as a B-24 Liberator heavy bomb squadron and trained by Third Air Force. Deployed to Egypt in June 1942 over South Atlantic Transport Route transiting from Morrison Field, Florida though the Caribbean to Brazil; performed trans-Atlantic... -
98th Bomb Group
Group
The 98th trained for bombardment missions with B-24 Liberators during the first half of 1942. ...
People
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Robert Nespor
Military | First Lieutenant | B-24 Command Pilot
1st Lt. Robert James Nespor was a B-24D command bomber pilot in the 9th Air Force, the 98th Bombardment Group, "The Pyramiders", and the 330th Bombing Squadron. For the huge mission to bomb the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, on ...
Revisions
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 18 September 2019 13:02:13 | general ira snapsorter | Changes to person associations, place associations, aircraft associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
Removed associations not depicted in image. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 08 September 2019 00:56:54 | Kickapoo | Changes to caption |
| Sources | ||
Ploesti - Anatomy Of A Disaster - Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg ---- Black Sunday - Michael Hill ---- John S. Young, Jr. - personal archives |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 07 September 2019 17:08:37 | Kickapoo | Changes to caption, unit associations, person associations, place associations, aircraft associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
Ploesti - Anatomy Of A Disaster - Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg ---- Black Sunday - Michael Hill ---- John S. Young, Jr. - personal archives |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 06 August 2019 12:49:08 | Emily | Changes to caption, unit associations, person associations, place associations, aircraft associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
Removed associations not depicted in image, and transferred biographical information on Nespor to his person record. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 06 August 2019 08:02:44 | Kickapoo | Changes to person associations |
| Sources | ||
Anatomy Of A Disaster - Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg ---- Black Sunday - Michael Hill ---- Together We Served.com ---- Into The Fire - Duane Schultz ---- John S. Young, Jr. - personal archives |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 06 August 2019 08:00:23 | Kickapoo | Created entry with collection, caption, unit associations, person associations, place associations, aircraft associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
Anatomy Of A Disaster - Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg ---- Black Sunday - Michael Hill ---- Together We Served.com ---- Into The Fire - Duane Schultz ---- John S. Young, Jr. - personal archives |
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