340th Bomb Group располагалась в начале 1944 года на аэродроме у Помпей, а точнее в Терциньо (Terzigno) у Оттавиано, и во время извержения потеряла 78 самолетов(B-25). Больше, чем в любой отдельно взятой операции за всю Вторую Мировую войну.

http://www.reddog1944.com/487th_Squadron_Album_History%20of%20the%20340th.htm

"Thursday morning, we rode down beyond Pompeii. The cinders were so deep that traffic was stopped. Along about noon, the wind changed and the cinders began falling on Torre Annunziato..."

"...Yesterday afternoon, we rode in the ambulance, and, on the way back, we took a shortcut via Pompeii. Bulldozers were plowing the cinders to the side of the road in huge banks. Practically all the gardens and vineyards are covered to a tremendous depth in the area all the way from Vesuvius to Salerno..."
http://www.alumni.uga.edu/alumni/greatestpowers.html