Thomas, John Blakeslee
Army 1st lieutenant

John Blakeslee Thomas from New York, Wayne county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Sunday, August 1, 1943
Death details: On August 1, 1943, a B-24D Liberator nicknamed “Aire Lobo” (serial number 42-40312) took off from Benina, Libya, with ten crew members aboard. The bomber joined over 175 other heavy bombers for a bombing raid on the critical Axis oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. The American formation flew at extremely low altitude to breach the air-defenses around the refineries. On the approach to Ploesti, the bombers encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire and “Aire Lobo” was damaged. Shortly after dropping its bombs, the Liberator was struck by anti-aircraft fire again, this time in the cockpit, and the aircraft crashed near the target. Six crew members from “Aire Lobo” have been recovered and identified since the end of the war, but the other four men lost during the raid on Ploesti remain unaccounted-for. First Lieutenant John B. Thomas entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Texas and served with the 345th Bombardment Squadron, 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy). He was the pilot of this Liberator when it was lost, and his remains were not recovered following the war. Today, First Lieutenant Thomas is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta, Italy.

Source: National Archives, findagrave.com