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Personal info

Full name
TENAGLIA, Nicholas Albert
Date of birth
28 August 1922
Age
21
Place of birth
Camden, Camden County, New Jersey
Hometown
Camden, Camden County, New Jersey

Military service

Service number
12132226
Rank
Technical Sergeant
Function
Top Turret Gunner/Engineer
Unit
351st Bombardment Squadron,
100th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Finding of Death
Date of death
11 December 1943
Place of death
The North Sea near Norderney Island, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
Dominick Tenaglia (father)
Lucia Tenaglia (mother)
Josephine Tenaglia (sister)
Maria Tenaglia (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
42-37715
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: Sugarfoot
Destination: Emden, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the U-boat yards
MACR: 1570

More information

T/Sgt Nicholas Tenaglia was employed at New York Shipbuilding Corporation.

He volunteered for the Army of the United States in Camden, New Jersey on 11 September 1942.

As the bombers approached the North Frisian Islands, the German flak batteries began to fire. Within five minutes Sugarfoot took a direct hit between the #3 and #4 engines. High octane aviation fuel poured across the wing toward the radio operators compartment, gravitating along the fuselage into the waist gun opening. Simultaneously, the 390th Bomb Group was attacked by six twin engine ME-110 fighter planes that dived out of the sun firing rockets and cannons. Sugarfoot took a hard hit in the nose that knocked out communications and caused an oxygen fire, impairing the oxygen supply to some of the crew.

Some crew members in the cockpit & nose may have bailed out since a the only surviver, Gorsskopf, saw several parachutes in the air before he jumped but apparently those from the radio room back were unconscious from lack of oxygen.

Nine crew members were killed, one was taken prisoner.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, www.100thbg.com, National WWII Memorial, Footnote, www.fold3.com - MACR, www.8thafhs.com, WWII Draft Card

Photo source: Michel Beckers, www.100thbg.com, www.abmc.gov