The B-24D Liberator bomber, named, The Sandman, was named and flown by Lt. Robert Sternfels and his copilot, Lt. Barney Jackson, in the 9th Air Force, the 98th Bomb Group, and the 345th Bomb Squadron, on Operation Tidal Wave, the famous mission to destroy the German held oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. The Sandman and it's crew survived the Ploesti mission. Lt. Sternfels was assigned to fly in Flight 4, the fourth line behind Flight 1 of the 98th Bomb Group's airplanes, and behind the Group Leader, Col John Kane's Lead aircraft, Hail Columbia. But he was, apparently, reassigned, during the mission, to move forward and fly in Flight 1, three planes to the right of Hail Columbia, taking Lt. Robert Nespor's place after Lt. Nespor crashed Johnny Young's airplane, the B-24D, Kickapoo, on takeoff for the mission. After Lt. Sternfels bombed his target at, White IV, The Sandman, hit a barrage balloon cable, which struck the prop of Sternfels' #3 engine, the inboard RH wing engine, causing a major tear in the RH side of the plane's fuselage, with scratches and damage to the plane's prop blades. Lt. Sternfels followed his group leader, John Kane's crippled airplane, Hail Columbia, south, as they made their escape away from the flak guns and fighter airplanes of the German and Romanian air defenses south of Ploesti. Sternfels followed Col. Kane, in Hail Columbia, Lt. Royden Lebrecht, in The Squaw, and Lt. Gilbert Hadley, in Hadley's Harem, south through Turkey, across to the Mediterranean Sea to the British airbase at Nicosia, Cyprus, where they landed safely, minus Gib Hadley and his crew, behind Col. Walter Stewart in, Utah Man, and Lt. Royden LeBrecht flying, The Squaw. As they approached Cyprus, Gilbert Hadley had turned back to the Turkish coast in the dark, low on gas and engine oil. Col. Kane and his copilot, Johnny Young, crash landed and wrote off, Hail Columbia, after landing short in the darkness, and hitting a ditch that the British had dug across the airbase's runway threshold. Lt Hadley tried to ditch his, Hadley's Harem, just off the Turkish coast, but was trapped and drowned in the crushed cockpit of his wrecked bomber as it sank in the ocean, with seven more of his crew killed in the crash or over their target. 7 KIA. 3 INT-TURKEY. Lt. Sternfels gave Col. John Kane and Lt. John Young, a ride in, The Sandman, back to their base at Benghazi a day, or so, after the Ploesti mission. 1 Aug, 1943.

The Sandman was later lost, ITA. 19 Dec 1943. MACR 1641 - Pilot John W. Viers

Crew of The Sandman on the Ploesti raid:

1st Lt. Robert W. Sternfels - Pilot
2nd Lt. Barney Jackson - CoPilot
2nd Lt. Anthony W. Flesch - Navigator
2nd Lt. David A. Polaschek - Bombadier
T/Sgt. William W. Stout - Flight Engineer/Gunner
T/Sgt. Frank Just - Radio Operator/Gunner
Sgt. Raymond E. Stewart - Gunner
Sgt. Harry Rifkin - Waist Gunner
Sgt. Merle B. Bowen - Waist Gunner
S/Sgt. John T. Weston - Ball Turret Tail Gunner (WIA) - 2nd degree burns on his lower
right leg

Service

Events

Event	Location	Date
Shot Down	Augsburg, Germany	19 December 1943
Lost on a mission to Augsburg, Germany on December 19th 1943. Pilot John W Viers, Co-Pilot William Smyser & Navigator Stanley Napierala. MACR 1641.