The B-24D 'Joisey Bounce' was assigned to Pilot Col. Walter T. Stewart of the 330 Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, for the famous mission to bomb the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, Aug 1,1943. Col. Stewart changed his assigned plane's name from, 'Joisey Bounce' to 'Utah Man', to underscore his Utah Morman background to all the Texans in the 98th Bomb Group. Col. Stewart, the Deputy Commander of the 93rd Bomb Group took command of the 93rd Bomb Group over Ploesti after his Group Leader, Col. Addison Baker and copilot, Maj. John Jerstad, were shot down and killed in 'Hell's Wench', approaching their target of opportunity at White IV, the Astra Romano refinery. Stewart in 'Utah Man' was also one of several pilots who had elected to follow his Group leader, Col. Addison Baker in 'Hell's Wench' who had turned north and west back to Ploesti after Gen. Ent, the mission commander, had ordered his pilot, Col. K.K. Compton, to turn south, away from Ploesti at his IP, instead of turning north to bomb his assigned target refinery. After successfully bombing White IV, ahead of the 98th Bomb Group, Stewart and his following B-24s flew right through the 98th's formation of aircraft and then turned south and followed the 98th's Group leader, Col. John Kane in 'Hail Columbia', away from Ploesti, and returned to the island of Cyprus with a small group of crippled planes, including Col. Kane in his Lead aircraft, 'Hail Columbia', Lt. Robert Sternfels in 'The Sandman', Lt. Royden LeBrecht in "The Squaw' and Lt. Gilbert Hadley in 'Hadley's Harem'. But Hadley never made it home. He drowned, caught in his plane after ditching the 'Harem' in the ocean off the Turkish coast, out of gasoline before getting al the way to Nicosia, Cyprus, after the mission. Col. Stewart made it to Nicosia with Kane, Sternfels and LeBrecht. And they all flew home to Benghazi the next day after the Ploesti raid, minus "Gib" Hadley and his crew, KIA, in the Aegean Sea off the Turkish coast with the exception of three crewmen, who survived the ditching and swam to shore.

After the Ploesti raid, 'Joisey Bounce' was returned to Britain with the rest of the 93rd Bomb Group. Walter Stewart's name, the 'Utah Man', on the right side of the nose, was repainted back to, 'Joisey Bounce'. Later, flying out of Britain, 'Joisey Bounce' failed to return (FTR) from a mission to Bremen and was lost. En route to target, the 'Bounce' suffered a mid air collision with the B-24 #42-40765, the 'Valient Virgin' with ten crewmen KIA. - Nov 13, 1943. MACR 2179.

Service

Events

Event	Location	Date
Manufactured	San Diego, TX 78384, USA	1943
Built at Consolidated.
Delivered	Texas, USA	1943
Delivered to USAAF.
Assigned	Hardwick, Cambridge CB23, UK	1943
Assigned to 330BS, 93BG, 8AF USAAF.
Crashed	Bremen, Germany	13 November 1943
Failed to Return (FTR) mission to Bremen, en route to target suffered a mid air collision with B-24 42-40765. 10 x KIA. 13-Nov-43. MACR 2179.