Victor E. Cliffe.
Pilot · 330th Squadron · Of Pawtucket, CA.
The man.
1st Lt. Victor E. Cliffe served as pilot of the B-24D (s/n 41-24121) in the 330th Bombardment Squadron, 93rd Bombardment Group. He had completed 11 missions prior to the Ploesti raid of August 1, 1943. The Missing Air Crew Report was transmitted by the Ninth Air Force under his name.
Cliffe did not bail out and was almost certainly killed in the mid-air collision with MACK 334 over Bulgaria. He was in the cockpit when the aircraft struck the ground in mountains southwest of Sofia. His individual casualty questionnaire noted he was probably killed in the mid-air collision. His next of kin was his wife, Mrs. V. E. Cliffe, of Pawtucket, California.
Note: The name appears in documents variously as "Olliffe," "Chliffe," and "Cliffco" due to OCR and transcription variation across pages, but the serial number 0-731644 and rank 1st Lt. are consistent across sources. The correct surname is Cliffe.