The remains of Sgt. John P. Bonnassiolle, a crewman in a B-24J bomber that went down over Germany in 1944, have been identified and returned to his family, Defense Department officials have announced. Bonnassiolle, a native of Oakland, Calif., will be buried Tuesday in San Francisco with full military honors. He was a one of 10 airmen lost on April 29, 1944, when their B-24 crashed near the town of East Meitze, Germany, north of Hannover, during a bombing raid against Berlin. DOD-led excavations of the crash site in 2005 and 2007 recovered remains and crew-related equipment, including Bonnassiolle’s identification tags, that led to his identification. (DOD release)
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.