Lt. William Warren Sykes was a B-24 navigator assigned to the 8th Air Force, the 93rd Bomb Group, and the 328th Bomb Squadron in the U.K., but was temporarily detached (TDY) to the 9th Air Force at Benghazi, Libya, North Africa, for Operation Tidal Wave, to Ploesti, Romania, in June/July 1943. He was the navigator of the B-24D, 41-23711, Jerks Natural, and flew on the Ploesti raid. 1 Aug 43.





Jerks Natural, was damaged by flak over Austria on a mission to the Wiener Neustadt Bf-109 factory and crashed in Yugoslavia. Lt. Sykes was the only crewman to successfully bail out and escape his spinning bomber, as it plunged to the earth completely out of control.



Lt. Sykes parachuted into Heilbrunn, a tiny village tucked into the mountains north of the old fortress city of Graz, in southeast Austria. He was taken to the Heilbrunn Inn, where the Austrian farmers showed him watches taken from his crew's bodies. He was, then, captured by the Germans, who took him away for 19 months of captivity. (POW). 1 Oct 43. MACR 3301.





Awards: DFC, AM, POW, WWII Victory, EAME.