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Military
Took part in Operation Tidal Wave, the raid on Ploesti on 1 August 1943, flying B-24 Liberator 42-40706.
Completed 30 bombing missions incl. Ploesti oil fields in Aug 1943, Rome while stationed in Africa. Transfered back to GB. 30th mission 23 Mar 1945. Spoke very seldomly of WWII experiences; many memories of lost comrades, etc. too painful. On one mission his plane was so badly shot up that they had no hydraulics; the pilot asked the crew to 'pray' as they came to the English Channel. The crew had no idea if the plane had sufficient fuel to make it home. When they made it back to base very late, their ground crew had already left the field, assuming the plane had been shot down.
DFC (Ploesti); ETO 4BS; AM 4Oak Leaf Cluster; UC 1Oak Leaf Cluster
Group
The 389th Bomb Group, known in more familiar terms as "the Sky Scorpions", flew strategic bombing missions in B-24 Liberators from Hethel, England. They also sent detachments to join bases in North Africa at Benghazi No. 10, Libya, between 3 July 1943...
Group
93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) was activated 1-March-1942 at Barksdale Field, Louisiana. On 15-May-1942 the Group moved to Ft. Myers, Florida to continue advanced flight training and also to fly anti-submarine patrols over the Gulf of Mexico; they...
Squadron
Squadron
Constituted 566th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 19 Dec. 1942. Activated on 24 Dec. 1942. Inactivated on 13 Sept. 1945. Campaigns: Air Offensive, Europe; Sicily; Naples-Foggia; Normandy; Northern France; Rhineland; Ardennes-Alsace; Central Europe; Air...
B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator 42-40706 'Tondelao' 566th BS, 389th BG, 8th AF, flew on 1st Aug 43 Ploesti oil refinery raid piloted by Cecil J Whitener, returning safely to Libya.
...
1 August 1943
Operation TIDAL WAVE. B24D Liberators attack the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. The bombers flew low to avoid radar detection and dropped time delayed bombs. Out of the 177 B-24s that took part in the raid 167 managed to attack their targets. 57 B...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Born | Lilly, Pennsylvania | 24 July 1921 |
| Died | 2 March 1990 |
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 15 November 2019 11:54:43 | general ira snapsorter | Changes to biography, unit associations, aircraft associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:15:03 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / wife, WWII documents of J. N. Miller |
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