Born in Caldwell, New Jersey, 1st lt Flavelle boxed while attending Oregon State College, and was apart of the glee club. He graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Agriculture in 1938. Afterwards he enlisted into the Army Air Force on 14 Jul 1941 in New Jersey. His Silver Star was earned in the Ploesti raid “Operation Tidal Wave” on 1 Aug 1943 while coming in at treetop level to bomb Romanian Oil Refineries. While serving with the 512th Bomber Squadron 376th Bomber Group he was the lead aircraft for a 7 plane attack. As they neared Corfu, Greece his plane, B-24 #42-40563 nick named “Wongo Wongo”, started wobbling, then stalled and fell spinning into the sea. All 10 on board were killed. The cause of the accident was listed as probable improper manual fuel transfer. He was survived by his wife and four month old son.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/55903202/brian-w.-flavelle
https://www.abmc.gov/node/534433
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https://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:fx719t184#page/8/mode/1u... (pg 8)
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https://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:fx719t26t#page/15/mode/1up (pg 16)
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