does anyone have any information on the number of planes sent on the missions for this day? They probably went to Vienna or Blechhammer, Germany. I would also like to get information about life on Amendola airfield. Pictures, stories etc.
thanks,
Brandon 

Friday Oct 13. 1944
144 B-17s + 183 Libs attacked Blechhammer - South.209 planes over the target. total 665 tons bombs
Second attack that day, simultaneously was Floridsdorf in Austria. 106  B-17s airborne, only 93 dropped  217 tons.Also hit small facilities at Vienna and Graz; Banhida, Szekesfehervár and Pápa in Hungary and Hranice and Meziříčí in Czechoslovakia.

enough?:)

Peter Kassak
pkassak(AT)yahoo.com

Brandon :  There is a book written by Melvin McGuire and Robert Hadley called Bloody Skies that tells about life in Italy and particularly Amendola....McGuire wa a waist gunner in the 2nd BG, stationed at Amendola. It tells of life and the living conditions.
I highly recommend it.
 
(I was stationed at Tortorella, 2 miles west of Amendola).
 
Jim :-)

James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt
B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions
99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF
Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy
My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45
M/Sgt USAF (Retired)

Brandon,
I have something that may interest you. My name is Bill Fowler and I was born October 12, 1944. My Father was a togglier/waste gunner with the 97BG414SQ. I have a RADIOGRAM sent to my Dad on Oct 12 USA time and arriving in Amendola on Friday the 13th European time. This caused a newspaper article about my Dad having a bomb run the 13th and having a son born on the same day.  Below is an exert from the article. I don't know what newspaper printed this article but it is titled "Friday the 13th Is Lucky For Bombadier Fowler" By Harry H. Garrett.

                     "Trouble Pops Up"
""The target for the day." Sargeant Fowler said,"was an oli refinery at Blechhammer, Germany. Blechhammer is a pretty rough one at times, and the fact it was Friday the 13th just made me wonder - though naturally, as a product of the American education system I'm not the least bit superstitious.
 "But sure enough" he said "just before the initial point of the bomb run, a mechanical failure developed in the plane.
 "The rest of the formation streamed on past us. Nobody knows what it really is to be alone until it happens to him up there, with enemy fighters waiting to pounce on the first unlucky straggler.
                           He Really Was Lucky
 "I say unlucky. That was just it. Somehow the enemy didn't spot us after all. If they had it would have been all over."
 Sergeant Fowler terms this "miracle of good luck."
 "We made the bomb run alone. Still nothing happened. We were holding our breath.
 "Then after leaving the target the plane began to behave properly again. We were able to catch up with the rest of the formation and made the run with no further trouble.""

I thought this part of the article may interest you.

I guess Dad and the rest of the crew was lucky because they stayed together and made 52 total missions and all of them home returned home together.

I would love to get a scanned copy of that article. I have not yet begun sifting through newspaper articles yet but I should start. There is a lot of information regarding the war in Italy from the perspective of the associated press and others. My email is soalebm@yahoo.com so if you get a chance I'd love a copy of that and maybe if you have a crew photo or a picture of your father to go with it.
Thanks,
Brandon

James,

You have told me about that book before and I was looking at a copy on ebay several months ago but I didn't win it. I'll keep my eyes open.

Since you were in the 99th are you going to make it to the reunion in Fairborn, Ohio in October? I live near Cincinnati so I will be there. I'm very excited because I think I'm gonna have to miss the 463rd BG reunion in Washington this year. If you are I'll show you the research I've done and the section in which I used some of the stories you told me via email. I've pretty much relied on you for my entire 99th BG section.

Hi Brandon,
What is your interest in Amendola? I do have some pictures from 8/44 to 3/45

Thanks for sending me a message. I have been involved in a research project with several veterans of the 15th AF for about two years. I am currently attempting to gather any maps or photos of the bases around Foggia. I have a lot of stuff from Celone or Tortorella but nothing from Amendola. I'm very interested in seeing what you have. email me at soalebm@muohio.edu and we can figure something out. If you have them scanned already you can send them to that email or I'll give you my address. I appriciate any help you can give.
thanks, Brandon