The Pittsburgh Press (April 15, 1944)
Serbs aid crews of 2 U.S. planes
By the United Press
Units of Gen. Draža Mihailović’s Royal Yugoslav troops have rescued the crews of two U.S. planes in Serbia, according to dispatches broadcast yesterday to the United Press in New York by Democratic Yugoslavia, agency of Gen. Mihailović.
A plane piloted by a Lt. John Lendstra was reported to have been forced down April 6 at the village of Venchani, 29 miles south of Belgrade. Under the pilot’s directions, the plane was dismantled and “hidden in a secure place,” a communiqué said.
The crew of eight of a U.S. bomber, reported to have been shot down by the Germans over Serbia on its return April 4 from a raid on the Ploești oil fields in Romania, was said to have been rescued and given first aid after landing by parachute.