Joseph was the Navigator aboard B-24L Liberator #44-41421 with the US 13th Air Force in World War II.
The B-24s departed Noemfoor, Indonesia for a strike mission to Japanese-held airfields on Negros Island, Philippines.
The bombers were intercepted by the Japanese and came under intense cannon fire by the enemy fighter planes.
A photograph of Joseph's B-24 was taken at the exact moment the right wing folded up and the tail section disintegrated under the the barrage of gunfire. Moments later the aircraft plunged into a mountainside at the northern tip of Negros and exploded. All aboard were
killed.
Three days later that photograph appeared in many US newspapers.
Following the war, the wreck site was found and the crew's remains recovered. All ten were interred in a common grave in Virginia on September 27, 1949.
They were:
1st Lt. Walter A Scalese, Pilot, Windber, PA
2nd Lt. Stephen Fuda, Co-Pilot, Stamford, CT
Flt. Off. Joseph E. Novakovits, Navigator, Bethlehem, PA
1st Lt. Paul H Phillips, Bombardier, Logan, WV
TSgt. Chester E Matz, Radio Operator, Wilkes-Barre, PA
TSgt. Charles H Neville, Engineer, Evansville, IN
SSgt. George J Kacoyannakis, Asst. Engineer, Tyrone, NY
SSgt. John T Stough, Asst. Radio Operator, Jeanette, PA
SSgt. Robert L Dyson, Gunner, Dennison, OH
SSgt. Michael P Falcone, Gunner, Bangor, PA
The B-24s departed Noemfoor, Indonesia for a strike mission to Japanese-held airfields on Negros Island, Philippines.
The bombers were intercepted by the Japanese and came under intense cannon fire by the enemy fighter planes.
A photograph of Joseph's B-24 was taken at the exact moment the right wing folded up and the tail section disintegrated under the the barrage of gunfire. Moments later the aircraft plunged into a mountainside at the northern tip of Negros and exploded. All aboard were
killed.
Three days later that photograph appeared in many US newspapers.
Following the war, the wreck site was found and the crew's remains recovered. All ten were interred in a common grave in Virginia on September 27, 1949.
They were:
1st Lt. Walter A Scalese, Pilot, Windber, PA
2nd Lt. Stephen Fuda, Co-Pilot, Stamford, CT
Flt. Off. Joseph E. Novakovits, Navigator, Bethlehem, PA
1st Lt. Paul H Phillips, Bombardier, Logan, WV
TSgt. Chester E Matz, Radio Operator, Wilkes-Barre, PA
TSgt. Charles H Neville, Engineer, Evansville, IN
SSgt. George J Kacoyannakis, Asst. Engineer, Tyrone, NY
SSgt. John T Stough, Asst. Radio Operator, Jeanette, PA
SSgt. Robert L Dyson, Gunner, Dennison, OH
SSgt. Michael P Falcone, Gunner, Bangor, PA
Joseph was the Navigator aboard B-24L Liberator #44-41421 with the US 13th Air Force in World War II.
The B-24s departed Noemfoor, Indonesia for a strike mission to Japanese-held airfields on Negros Island, Philippines.
The bombers were intercepted by the Japanese and came under intense cannon fire by the enemy fighter planes.
A photograph of Joseph's B-24 was taken at the exact moment the right wing folded up and the tail section disintegrated under the the barrage of gunfire. Moments later the aircraft plunged into a mountainside at the northern tip of Negros and exploded. All aboard were
killed.
Three days later that photograph appeared in many US newspapers.
Following the war, the wreck site was found and the crew's remains recovered. All ten were interred in a common grave in Virginia on September 27, 1949.
They were:
1st Lt. Walter A Scalese, Pilot, Windber, PA
2nd Lt. Stephen Fuda, Co-Pilot, Stamford, CT
Flt. Off. Joseph E. Novakovits, Navigator, Bethlehem, PA
1st Lt. Paul H Phillips, Bombardier, Logan, WV
TSgt. Chester E Matz, Radio Operator, Wilkes-Barre, PA
TSgt. Charles H Neville, Engineer, Evansville, IN
SSgt. George J Kacoyannakis, Asst. Engineer, Tyrone, NY
SSgt. John T Stough, Asst. Radio Operator, Jeanette, PA
SSgt. Robert L Dyson, Gunner, Dennison, OH
SSgt. Michael P Falcone, Gunner, Bangor, PA
The B-24s departed Noemfoor, Indonesia for a strike mission to Japanese-held airfields on Negros Island, Philippines.
The bombers were intercepted by the Japanese and came under intense cannon fire by the enemy fighter planes.
A photograph of Joseph's B-24 was taken at the exact moment the right wing folded up and the tail section disintegrated under the the barrage of gunfire. Moments later the aircraft plunged into a mountainside at the northern tip of Negros and exploded. All aboard were
killed.
Three days later that photograph appeared in many US newspapers.
Following the war, the wreck site was found and the crew's remains recovered. All ten were interred in a common grave in Virginia on September 27, 1949.
They were:
1st Lt. Walter A Scalese, Pilot, Windber, PA
2nd Lt. Stephen Fuda, Co-Pilot, Stamford, CT
Flt. Off. Joseph E. Novakovits, Navigator, Bethlehem, PA
1st Lt. Paul H Phillips, Bombardier, Logan, WV
TSgt. Chester E Matz, Radio Operator, Wilkes-Barre, PA
TSgt. Charles H Neville, Engineer, Evansville, IN
SSgt. George J Kacoyannakis, Asst. Engineer, Tyrone, NY
SSgt. John T Stough, Asst. Radio Operator, Jeanette, PA
SSgt. Robert L Dyson, Gunner, Dennison, OH
SSgt. Michael P Falcone, Gunner, Bangor, PA
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FLT O, 371 AAF BOMB SQ, 307 BOMB GP WORLD WAR II
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