The B-24D, Brewery Wagon, flew on the famous bombing mission to destroy the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. It was shot down by German anti aircraft flak guns and an ME-109 fighter plane as the aircraft was approaching it's target over Ploesti. Two of the crew were KIA. Eight became POW's. 1 Aug 43.    MACR 154                                                                                

                                                                                                                       

The first B-24 to initiate an attack against the Romanian oil refineries was, Brewery Wagon, serial number, 41-24294, in the 8th Air Force, the 512th Bomb Squadron, and the 376th Bomb Group. Brewery Wagon, was delivered to the USAAF in standard olive drab over neutral gray camouflage paint in December, 1942 and out of all the locations in world war it could have gone, it was assigned to North Africa and the 9th Bomber Command.

The aircraft was given the squadron number 36 from the numbers reserved for the 512th Bomb Squadron.  The number was displayed on both sides of the nose and on the outboard sides of the vertical twin tail fins.  According to the book by William R. Bradle, “The Daring World War II Raid on Ploesti” (Pelican Publishing Co., 2017), the name, Brewery Wagon, was given to the ship by its regular pilot, Lt. Robert H. Storz, who was the son of a prominent beer brewer in Omaha, Nebraska.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Brewery Wagon, piloted by Lt. John Palm, flew her first combat mission on 1 May 1943 against port facilities at Reggio, Italy, though the mission was aborted due to weather. The aircraft soon developed a reputation for being a kind of mechanical lemon with ongoing mechanical problems, which were noted by four different pilots who flew the ship in its first 16 combat missions, five of which were aborted for mechanical reasons. One of her pilots, 1st Lt. Reynolds, was killed in combat during a mission on 21 June 1943. When Lt. John Palm and his crew were assigned to, Brewery Wagon, for her 17th and,  ultimately, her final combat mission, and they were very unhappy about it. One report says, as the crew approached the aircraft, one of them threw rocks at it's fuselage, a possible removal of it's apparent curse. But they climbed aboard and took off at dawn on the morning of the mission. En route to Romania, Lt. Palm flew, Brewery Wagon, in close formation with two other squadron ships, #28, Wongo Wongo, flown by 1st Lt. Brian Flavelle and Lt. Guy Lovine in # 23, Desert Lily. As they were crossing the Mediterranean Sea, Wongo Wongo, suddenly pitched up, apparently, out of control, went into a spin, and crashed into the sea with its entire crew lost shortly before they finished crossing. Lt. Lovine, a friend of Flavelle's, left formation, nearly colliding with, Brewery Wagon, followed, Wongo Wongo, down to the ocean surface, and circled over the area to see if there were any survivors. Brewery Wagon, and the rest of the 376th Bomb Group continued on the mission. Lovine, unable to catch up with the formation high above him, then, aborted the mission. 

Later, approaching Ploesti, speeding along at low altitude, Brewery Wagon, also became the first B-24 shot down over Romania. As Palm and crew flew low across the Romanian countryside, they emerged from a rain cloud and began taking triple A fire, as they crossed the outer ring of the ground defenses around Ploesti.   

Coming out of the Danube River Valley, Lt. Palm crossed into the outer circle of defense guns, and began to take his first hits, primarily from the rapid firing 20mm light anti-aircraft guns. The airplane took a devastating direct flak hit in it's nose section, which killed (KIA) the bombardier, 2nd Lt. Robert W. Merrell from Los Angeles, California, who was not a regular member of  Palm's crew, and was on his first combat mission. The hit also badly wounded Navigator, 2nd Lt. William M. Wright from Forney, Texas, who died on board, and paid the ultimate price for his accurate navigation. Waist gunner SSgt Snyder was also wounded by a splinter that hit his part of the plane.

More deadly hits destroyed out one of their four engines and damaged two others, and caused their B-24 bomber to start losing altitude, overloaded and now without all four engines running. Ignoring the terrible flak hits he just took, John Palm began his attack on the nearest refinery he could see. He recalled later : “By then I didn’t care whose refinery it was. If it was a refinery, then I was going to bomb it.” 

But shortly thereafter, a German ME-109G fighter pilot, Capt. Hauptmann Wilhelm Steinmann, commander of the the 1st Staffel of JG 4, saw, Brewery Wagon, trailing vapor and smoke, and attacked, hitting the B-24 with his 20mm cannons and 7.92mm machine guns on a pass from the rear. The fighter passed over the bomber, turned around, and made a head on pass, hitting the plane again in the nose and cockpit area, the right wing, and the number 3 and 4 engines. A 20mm shell the hit Palm, blowing his right foot off the rudder pedal, and nearly severing his leg in the blast Copilot Love was also wounded by shell fragments. But, somehow, the damaged bomber still had enough speed for the pilots to be able to put the plane into a steep turn avoiding refinery smokestacks in their way. Palm leveled the aircraft, jettisoned his bombs with his cockpit emergency bomb release, and crash landed his crippled ship in a cornfield near Tatarani, just south of Ploesti, near the Ploesti-Bucharest railroad line, and about three B-24 wingspans from the Pensiunea La Gina Hotel, on Str.Intrarea Gaterului, Number 1, on the Southwest edge of Ploiesti.

Lt. Love had averted total catastrophe by pulling the burning engines' fire extinguisher handles, preventing the engine fires on the right wing from spreading to the rest of the aircraft. Now, settling without power, they hit the ground, crushing the plane's cockpit and forward section, folding up the nose section of the plane, and killing the both the bombardier and navigator, if, by chance, they were still alive. 

Palm, badly wounded, bleeding, and hurt, kept his presence of mind, jarred his left hand sliding side window loose in the plane's cockpit and pulled it in to make an escape opening : ”With the adrenaline flowing, I was able to pull the thing in. My leg was still attached by a small thread of flesh, so I took the leg, laid it across my lap, and dove out of the airplane. I think I was the first man out of the ship !”

Seven other crewmembers emerged from the wreck, and all become prisoners of war (7 POW).  In addition to the pilots, Palm and Love, the other eight survivors included Flight Engineer T/Sgt Alexander P. Rockinson (Canal Fulton, Ohio), Radio Operator T/Sgt Harold Block (Brooklyn, New York), Gunners T/Sgt Austin D. Chastain (Siloam Springs, Arkansas), S/Sgt Clay E. Snyder (Paden City, West Virginia), S/Sgt William E. Thompson (St. Cloud, Florida) and Tail Gunner S/Sgt Dallas A. Robertson (St. Louis, Missouri).   

Copilot Bill Love recalled being captured by the Germans :  “I was prevented from returning to the ship by the German soldiers who captured us, however, I persuaded two of them to go to the nose section to see if they could be of assistance. One went in as far as he could and reported that both men inside, including the navigator, Lt. William M. Wright, and Lt. Merrell, were dead. This was also the report of two more men sent about 30 minutes later by the German officer in charge of the station to which we were taken. It is my belief that the bombardier, Lt. Merrell, was killed, either by enemy gunfire over the target, or a few seconds later, by the force of impact, when our aircraft crashed.”  Another crew member recalled that " Bombardier, Merrell, was blown to pieces by the direct flak hits we took. ", also confirmed to us by the Romanians.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   -   Lost on Operation Tidal Wave.  Ploesti Romania.   1 Aug 43.   - MACR 154 - Pilot John D. Palm - Copilot  William F. Love

The survivors of the crew ultimately became prisoners of war in Romanian captivity.  The crew received medical aid after their ordeal such as tail gunner S/Sgt Dallas A. Robertson from St. Louis, Missouri who had a 20 mm cannon shell splinter removed from his cranium. Lt. Palm was taken to Bucharest and would lose his right leg, but survived. A little over a year later, they all would be among the 1,173 airmen repatriated in "Operation Reunion", or "Operation Gunn", with the help of the Romanians.

1st Lt. John D. Palm - Pilot (WIA) (POW)

2nd Lt. William F. Love - Copilot (POW)

2nd Lt. William K. Wright - Navigator (KIA)

2nd Lt. Robert W. Merrell - Bombardier (KIA)

T/Sgt. Alexander Rockinson - Engineer/Gunner (POW)

T/Sgt. Harold Black - Radio Operator (POW)

S/Sgt. William E. Thompson - Gunner (POW)

S/Sgt. Austin D. Chastain - Gunner (POW)

S/Sgt. Dallis R. Robertson - Tail Gunner (POW)

S/Sgt. Clay E. Snyder - Gunner (POW)