Lt. Col John M. Senneff

Relatives and friends may visit the LOMBARDO FUNERAL HOME (Northtowns Chapel) 885 Niagara Falls Blvd on Wednesday from 3-8 PM. A funeral service will be held on Thursday morning morning at 11:30 o’clock at The Kenmore United Methodist Church, 32 Landers Road., Kenmore (please assemble at church). Interment White chapel Cemetery.

Beginning in 1944, he was assigned to the P-47 Thunderbolt 86th Fighter-Bomber Group’s 525th Squadron in Italy. John flew 74 combat missions into Italy, France and Germany. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters, and numerous European campaign honors. His unit also earned two Presidential Unit Citations. He took part in escorting President Truman’s plane to the Potsdam Conference. He earned a Master’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering, at the University of Illinois. He retired from the U.S. Air Force, after 27 years as a lieutenant colonel. At Bell, John worked on Minuteman III, Space Shuttle, Spacelab, Agena, the lunar ascent engine that carried every Apollo astronaut from the surface of the moon. The engine is now displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. For more than 20 years he was an instructor at Tamarack and Kissing Bridge, finally retiring in his late 80s. John was also a flight instructor and active in Bell Ski and Golf Clubs, Niagara Soaring Club AIAA, Niagara Aerospace Museum and hall of fame, BADAGA, softball and swimming coach, Buffalo Aero Club and Bali Running Club.