First Lieutenant Scalese was the pilot of B-24L Liberator #44-41421, serving with the 371st Bomb Squadron, 307th Bomb Group, 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 Walter's B-24 was taken at the exact moment the right wing folded up and the tail section disintegrated under 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
~
Son of Augusta Scalese.
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 Walter's B-24 was taken at the exact moment the right wing folded up and the tail section disintegrated under 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
~
Son of Augusta Scalese.
First Lieutenant Scalese was the pilot of B-24L Liberator #44-41421, serving with the 371st Bomb Squadron, 307th Bomb Group, 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 Walter's B-24 was taken at the exact moment the right wing folded up and the tail section disintegrated under 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
~
Son of Augusta Scalese.
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 Walter's B-24 was taken at the exact moment the right wing folded up and the tail section disintegrated under 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
~
Son of Augusta Scalese.
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1LT, US ARMY AIR FORCES WORLD WAR II
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