340th Bomb Group History

340th Bombardment Group History

340th BG Patch

340th BG Squadron Insignia
	486th B.S.	487th B.S.	488th B.S.	489th B.S.
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April 6, 1944 Mission to the Perugia Aerodrome

Squadron War Diary

486th Briefing called for 1020 and later changed to 1330. Today's target is the Perugia A/D. The 486th, 488th, 489th and the 487th furnished 9 ships each per squadron and flew formation in teh following order. 489th in the first box of six, 487th in the second box of six, 488th in the third box of six, 486th in the fourth box of six. 488th and 486th each furnished three ships for the 5th box of six.

At the interrogation bombs were said to have landed in teh SE section of the field. Bombs of three ships landed south of runway, some hitting the taxi strip. It was noted that two large oil fires on the southeast and one on the SW side of teh taxi strip were started. One ship was seen to explode when hit by a bomb on the field.

Three ships were holed.

Bombardier Lt. Wilkerson was cut slightly with plastiglass in face and head...

487th An early mission had been scheduled and combat crew members had early chow, but at 10:00 A.M. the raid was postponed until afternoon. Takeoff was at 14:25 when ten B-25/s of the 487th left the runway to attack Perugia A/D. The formation was over the target at 17:17 hours dropping their entire bomb load of 80x500's in a pattern which started short of the Airdrome extending to the edge of the airfield. It is believed that only two or three bombs may have hit in the eastern dispersal area of the drome. All ships were holed by an intense, accurate concentration of anti-aircraft fire.

7K was hit over the target and only two 'chutes were observed coming out of the ship before it exploded upon contact with the ground. 2nd Lts. B.B. Barker, R.B. Hicks, S/Sgt. A.H. Vervacke and Sgts. S. Tulin, J.T. Raschetz and D.H. Pinkerton were crew members of the ill fated bomber.

7T was also crippled by ack-ack over the target and was last seen aflame as it spiraled earthward. Four 'chutes left the plane which most probably added four more men to the P of W list. 2nd Lts. G.U. Ashmore, H.E. Finney, G.J. Simpson; Sgts. J.W. Ikner, J.S. Klein and Cpl. B.A. Burton were crew members aboard 7T.

Sgt. Joe Ferraro received an ankle injury from the bursting flack and is recovering in the hospital.

Sgt. Gerhardt sustained a piece of flak in his thigh which had no serious effects.

488th Mission to the Perugia A/D again. [The 488th went to Perugia A/D on April 4th, but did not drop due to cloud cover.]

489th We sent off nine planes this afternoon to strike at the Perugia Airdrome. As I make this notation the planes are peeling off and are coming in. Three of the nine returned early because of mechanical trouble. Whether the remainder got to the target remains to be seen.

Target in 1944

Target Today

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Squadron	War Diary
486th	Briefing called for 1020 and later changed to 1330. Today's target is the Perugia A/D. The 486th, 488th, 489th and the 487th furnished 9 ships each per squadron and flew formation in teh following order. 489th in the first box of six, 487th in the second box of six, 488th in the third box of six, 486th in the fourth box of six. 488th and 486th each furnished three ships for the 5th box of six. At the interrogation bombs were said to have landed in teh SE section of the field. Bombs of three ships landed south of runway, some hitting the taxi strip. It was noted that two large oil fires on the southeast and one on the SW side of teh taxi strip were started. One ship was seen to explode when hit by a bomb on the field. Three ships were holed. Bombardier Lt. Wilkerson was cut slightly with plastiglass in face and head...
487th	An early mission had been scheduled and combat crew members had early chow, but at 10:00 A.M. the raid was postponed until afternoon. Takeoff was at 14:25 when ten B-25/s of the 487th left the runway to attack Perugia A/D. The formation was over the target at 17:17 hours dropping their entire bomb load of 80x500's in a pattern which started short of the Airdrome extending to the edge of the airfield. It is believed that only two or three bombs may have hit in the eastern dispersal area of the drome. All ships were holed by an intense, accurate concentration of anti-aircraft fire. 7K was hit over the target and only two 'chutes were observed coming out of the ship before it exploded upon contact with the ground. 2nd Lts. B.B. Barker, R.B. Hicks, S/Sgt. A.H. Vervacke and Sgts. S. Tulin, J.T. Raschetz and D.H. Pinkerton were crew members of the ill fated bomber. 7T was also crippled by ack-ack over the target and was last seen aflame as it spiraled earthward. Four 'chutes left the plane which most probably added four more men to the P of W list. 2nd Lts. G.U. Ashmore, H.E. Finney, G.J. Simpson; Sgts. J.W. Ikner, J.S. Klein and Cpl. B.A. Burton were crew members aboard 7T. Sgt. Joe Ferraro received an ankle injury from the bursting flack and is recovering in the hospital. Sgt. Gerhardt sustained a piece of flak in his thigh which had no serious effects.
488th	Mission to the Perugia A/D again. [The 488th went to Perugia A/D on April 4th, but did not drop due to cloud cover.]
489th	We sent off nine planes this afternoon to strike at the Perugia Airdrome. As I make this notation the planes are peeling off and are coming in. Three of the nine returned early because of mechanical trouble. Whether the remainder got to the target remains to be seen.

Crew Lists and Mission Reports

488th Squadron

340th BG Squadron Insignia
	486th B.S.	487th B.S.	488th B.S.	489th B.S.
	Click on the squadron insignia above for links to digitized squadron histories