<P> Vesuvius entered a new phase in December 1631, when a major eruption buried many villages under lava flows, killing around 3,000 people . Torrents of lahar were also created, adding to the devastation . Activity thereafter became almost continuous, with relatively severe eruptions occurring in 1660, 1682, 1694, 1698, 1707, 1737, 1760, 1767, 1779, 1794, 1822, 1834, 1839, 1850, 1855, 1861, 1868, 1872, 1906, 1926, 1929 and 1944 . </P> <P> The eruption of April 05 in 1906, killed more than 100 people and ejected the most lava ever recorded from a Vesuvian eruption . Italian authorities were preparing to hold the 1908 Summer Olympics when Mount Vesuvius violently erupted, devastating the city of Naples and surrounding comunes . Funds were diverted to the reconstruction of Naples, requiring a new location for the Olympics to be found . </P> <P> The last major eruption was in March 1944 . It destroyed the villages of San Sebastiano al Vesuvio, Massa di Somma, Ottaviano, and part of San Giorgio a Cremano . From March 18 to 23, 1944, lava flows appeared within the rim . There were outflows . Small explosions then occurred until the major explosion took place on March 18, 1944 . </P> <P> At the time of the eruption, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) 340th Bombardment Group was based at Pompeii Airfield near Terzigno, Italy, just a few kilometres from the eastern base of the volcano . The tephra and hot ash damaged the fabric control surfaces, the engines, the Plexiglas windscreens and the gun turrets of the 340th's B - 25 Mitchell medium bombers . Estimates ranged from 78 to 88 aircraft destroyed . </P>

When was the last time mt. vesuvius erupted