S/Sgt Rueben P. Staub

The pilot in the picture below is 2nd Lt. Lewis R. Kalb. He was the pilot on the flight of the 98th BG 415 Squadron that was shot up badly over Ploesti on June 6, 1944. He ordered his crew to bail out after the loss of engine number one and a bad fire. The fire was extinguished by shutting off the fuel to the engine. Five of his crew did bail out and the other 6 rode it out and eventually made it back to base. They had joined the 376th BG after dropping their bombs because that was the closest squad. The 376th had not yet dropped theirs on the marshalling yard. So the 415th followed them through and got hit by 4 ME109's and suffered more damage. One of the gunners, S/Sgt Celestino H. Garcia, was killed on that mission aboard the plane.

Lewis Kalb passed away in September of 1986. His son Robert provided this photo and article.