Grosseto, Italy, February 1945: the tragic result of a not well accomplished de-icing operation. The pilot of this P-47D Thunderbolt of 57th Fighter Group’s 65th Fighter Squadron “Fighting Cocks”, 12th Air Force, USAAF, Fl. Lt. Harold P."Skitch" Bonnici, took off early in the morning for a war mission at full combat load without remove the ice accretion over the wings caused by the extremely frigid temperatures of the night (the 1944-1945 winter was one of most cold of the Twentieth-Century). The aircraft barely made it off the end of Grosseto’s 5,000 foot runway and unable to gain sufficient altitude struck an earthen embankment approximately 10 feet high off the runway threshold. The aircraft exploded and the pilot was killed instantly. Victor Sierra

De-icing not accomplished

Two destroyed SOMUA S35s being inspected by German soldiers.

Battle of Hannut

Last seconds of life of an American bomber crew, all KIA, shot down by AA fire over Niš (at this time Yugoslavia, today Serbia) on 15 April 1944 during a raid against a German command post at an altitude of 20,000 ft: a dramatic event captured by an alert 483rd Bombardment Group photographer. The bomber was hit by a FLAK direct shell between the right engines with instant explosion of the fuel tanks and detachment of the right wing. Crew and aircraft was part of the 840th Bombardment Squadron, 483rd Bombardment Group, 5th Bombardment Wing, 15th Air Force, based at Sterparone Airfield, Foggia Airfield Complex, Apulia, Southern Italy. Both crew and aircraft was the firsts lost in action by the 483rd. The aircraft, Boeing B-17F-20-VE, serial 42-5786, ''Whizzer II'', a Flying Fortress of Lockheed-Vega production, was originally assigned to 99th Bombardment Group (another BG of the 5th Bomb Wing) on 5 May 1943. Damaged by fire on 16 September 1943 was repaired and transferred to 483rd Bombardment Group early April 1944. Remember the men which formed the crew of ''Whizzer II'': James O. Preston, pilot (Bowerton, OH); Harry L. Johnston, co-pilot (Galesburg, IL); Gordon G. Lindholm, navigator (Welch, MN); Jesse D. Gresham, bomber (Los Angeles, CA); John T. Cieslak, radio/gunner (Milwaukee, WI); James E. Cooper, tail gunner (Raleigh, NC); Albert H. Cline, left waist gunner (Baltimore, MD); John C. Toutant, engineer (Webster, MA); Harold J. Pierce, ball turret gunner (Oklahoma City, OK); Jack Brown, Jr. right waist gunner (Greer, SC). Victor Sierra