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41-11761

B-24 Liberator

  • The Squaw's Command Pilot Lt. Roydon LeBrecht smiles at his new, upgraded nose art painting on his B-24D. This was the second version of The Squaw's nose art, with the naked squaw, now, repainted standing up, with clothes on, instead of on her knees, and completely nude, especially modified for display to American families on it's war upcoming war bond tour. 1944

    The Squaw's Command Pilot Lt. Roydon LeBrecht smiles at his new, upgraded nose art painting on his B-24D. This was the second version of The Squaw's nose art, with the naked squaw, now, repainted standing up, with clothes on, instead of on her knees, and completely nude, especially modified for display to American families on it's war upcoming war bond tour. 1944

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  • B-24D - The Squaw. Lt. Royden LeBrecht Pilot and the second, more toned down bikini clad

    B-24D - The Squaw. Lt. Royden LeBrecht Pilot and the second, more toned down bikini clad "Squaw" nose art for the plane's war bond tour around America. 1943

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  • B-24D - The Squaw - Name and Nose Art RH Side - 1943. Pilot Lt. Royden Lebrecht had the painting of, The Squaw, repainted clothed in a bikini, in a slightly more conservative display for the families in The U.S. who would see the plane at his war bond tour stops.

    B-24D - The Squaw - Name and Nose Art RH Side - 1943. Pilot Lt. Royden Lebrecht had the painting of, The Squaw, repainted clothed in a bikini, in a slightly more conservative display for the families in The U.S. who would see the plane at his war bond tour stops.

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  • B-24D - The Squaw - 41-11761 - Lt. LeBrecht and his flight officers. 9th Air Force. War Bond Tour. 1944

    B-24D - The Squaw - 41-11761 - Lt. LeBrecht and his flight officers. 9th Air Force. War Bond Tour. 1944

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The B-24D Liberator bomber, 41-11761, was first named, Sleepy, by the men in the 8th Air Force and the 93rd Bomb Group in the U.K. and, later, was renamed, The Squaw, by it's Command Pilot, Lt. Royden LeBrecht, after being transferred to the 9th Air Force and the 98th Bomb Group at Benghazi, Libya. Lt. LeBrecht flew, The Squaw, on the famous Ploesti bombing mission, returning safely to Nicosia, Cyprus, after joining up with and covering several shot up and damaged straggler B-24s, including, John Kane's, Hail Columbia, Lt. Gib Hadley's, plane, Hadley's Harem, and Lt. Robert Sternfels', The Sandman. LeBrect, then, flew, The Squaw, back to home base at Benghazi, Libya, a day, or so, later. After the Ploesti mission and the completion of his combat tour, Lt. Lebrecht and his crew returned to the U.K. and, then, to Fort Worth, Texas, USA, flying, The Squaw, for a national war bond tour with Lt. Walter Stewart , flying, Bomerang, and Lt. John Young and his crew, flying, The Blue Streak, respectively, on the tour. 1944

The Squaw, was in the 9th Air Force (The Force For Freedom) - the 98th Bomb Group (The Pyramiders) - and the 343rd Bomb Squadron. The Squaw, was flown on the Ploesti mission by Lt. LeBrecht, and returned safely to Nicosia, Cyprus, providing armed escort cover for a small group of the 98th Bomb Group's flak damaged stragglers, Hail Columbia, and "Gib" Hadley's plane, Hadley's Harem, which was running so short of fuel and engine oil that Hadley had to turn back from following the group of stragglers to Cyprus. The last of his running engines seized up, and he crashed just off the southern Turkish coast as he was descending to ditch his plane in the ocean, killing Hadley and all but two of his crew. Aug 1, 1943. The Squaw, flown by LeBrecht and his crew, with, The Blue Streak, and, Bomerang, flown respectively, by Lt. John Young, and Lt. Walter Stewart, all flew from the U.K back to Fort Worth, Texas, a few months after the Ploesti mission for a war bond tour. 1944

Service

Aircraft

  • 41-24226 - Joisey Bounce - Utah Man

    B-24 Liberator
    The B-24D, 41-24226, Joisey Bounce, was assigned to Pilot Lt. Walter Travis Stewart in the the 330th Bomb Squadron, the 93rd Bomb Group, and the 8th Air Force, for the large mission to bomb the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. Col. Stewart changed...

  • 42-40765 - Valient Virgin

    B-24 Liberator
    B-24-D-95-CO - 42-40765 - Delivered to Tucson, AZ May 1943 - Allocated to 8th Air Force ...

  • 42-40402 - The Sandman

    B-24 Liberator
    The B-24D Liberator bomber, named, The Sandman, was 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...

  • 41-24311 - Hadley's Harem

    B-24 Liberator
    The B-24D, named, Hadley's Harem, was Lt. Gilbert Hadley's personal airplane and the one he flew, with his CoPilot, Lt. James Lindsey, on the mission to destroy Hitler's oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. As Hadley was approaching his target refinery,...

  • 41-11761 - The Squaw - Sleepy

    B-24 Liberator
    The B-24D Liberator bomber, 41-11761, was first named, Sleepy, by the men in the 8th Air Force and the 93rd Bomb Group in the U.K. and, later, was renamed, The Squaw, by it's Command Pilot, Lt. Royden LeBrecht, after being transferred to the 9th Air...

  • 41-11825 - Hail Columbia - Little Chief Big Dog - Grumpy

    B-24 Liberator
    The B-24D, Hail Columbia, 41-11825, was assigned to the 9th Air Force, the 98th Bomb Group, and the 344th Bombing Squadron. It was first assigned to the 344th Squadron's CO, Col. John R. Kane's, personal aircraft until Kane became the 98th Bomb Group's...

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Units

  • 8th Air Force

    8th Air Force


    Eighth Air Force Bomber Command became the Eighth Air Force on February 1944, it oversaw bombardment of strategic targets in Europe until 1945. ...

  • 9th Air Force

    9th Air Force

  • 93rd Bomb Group

    93rd Bomb Group

    Group
    The 93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) was activated 1 Mar 42 at Barksdale Field, Louisiana. On 15 May 42. the Group moved to Ft. Myers, Florida, to continue advanced flight training and also to fly antisubmarine patrols over the Gulf of Mexico. They...

  • 98th Bomb Group

    98th Bomb Group

    Group
    The 98th trained for bombardment missions with B-24 Liberators during the first half of 1942. ...

  • 343rd Bomb Squadron

    343rd Bomb Squadron

    Squadron
    Established as a B-24 Liberator heavy bomb squadron and trained by Third Air Force. Deployed to Egypt in June 1942 over South Atlantic Transport Route transiting from Morrison Field, Florida though the Caribbean to Brazil; performed trans-Atlantic...

People

  • Herbert Arens

    Military | First Lieutenant | B-24 Command Pilot | 98th Bomb Group
    2nd Lt. Herbert W. Arens was a B-24D command pilot in the 9th Air Force, the 98th Bomb Group, and the 344th Bomb Squadron. He flew the B-24D Liberator bomber, 41-11803, named, Rosie Wrecked 'Em, on the mission to destroy the oil refineries at Ploesti,...

  • Paul Bashis

    Military | Master Sergeant | Crew Chief
    Crew Chief on B-24 Liberator #4111761 'The Squaw' flew on the 1st Aug 43 Ploesti raid, recovering to Cyprus. On completion of its tour A/C, returned to Fort Worth, TX, USA for a war bond tour.

  • Paul Davidson

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Gunner
    Crew member B-24 #4111761 'Little Squaw' flew on the 1st Aug 43 Ploesti raid, diverted to Cypress. Returned to Fort Worth, TX, USA for war bonds tour with A/C.

  • John Givens

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Gunner
    Crew member B-24 #4111761 'Little Squaw' flew on the 1st Aug 43 Ploesti raid, diverted to Cypress. Returned to Fort Worth, Texas, USA for war bonds tour with A/C.

  • John Gunnu

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner
    Crew member B-24 #4111761 'Little Squaw' flew on the 1st Aug 43 Ploesti raid, diverted to Cypress. Returned to Fort Worth, TX, USA for war bonds tour with A/C.

  • Gilbert Hadley

    Military | First Lieutenant | B-24D Command Pilot | 98th Bomb Group
    Lt. Gilbert Ben Hadley ...

  • Adney Harmon

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Gunner
    Crew member B-24 #4111761 'Little Squaw' flew on the 1st Aug 43 Ploesti raid, diverted to Cypress. Returned to Fort Worth, TX, USA for war bonds tour with A/C.

  • John Kane

    Military | Colonel | B-24 Bomb Group Commanding Officer / B-24 Command Pilot | 98th Bomb Group
    John Riley Kane was a colonel in the United States Army Air Corps and later the United States Air Force. He received the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Congressional Medal of Honor, in World War II, for his leadership, courage, and heroism for...

  • Joe Kilgore

    Military | Major | Pilot
    Joe Madison Kilgore (December 10, 1918 – February 10, 1999) served from 1955 to 1965 as a U.S. Representative from Texas's 15th congressional district. Born in Brown County, near Brownwood in west central Texas, Kilgore attended the public schools of...

  • Clinton Killian

    Military | First Lieutenant | Co Pilot
    Co Pilot B-24 #4111761 'Little Squaw' flew on the 1st Aug 43 Ploesti raid, diverted to Cypress. Returned to USA for war bonds tour with A/C.

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Missions

  • Operation Tidal Wave

    1 August 1943
    Operation TIDAL WAVE. B-24D 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...

Places

  • Benina

    Military site : airfield

  • Lete

    Military site : airfield

Events

Event Location Date
Survived Ploesti Ploiești, Romania 1 August 1943

B-24D Liberator, 41-11761, The Squaw, flew on the Ploesti mission, returning to Cyprus, piloted by Royden Lebrecht. 1 Aug 43
Assigned Benghazi, Libya

343rd Bomb Squadron, 98th Bomb Group, 9th Air Force.
War Bond Tour Fort Worth, TX, USA

B-24D Liberator, 41-11761, The Squaw, returned to Fort Worth, Texas, USA for a war bond tour.
Nicknames
- The Squaw - Sleepy
Production block number
B-24-D-CO
Manufacturer
Consolidated
Markings and paint scheme/livery

The B-24D, 41-11761, first named, Sleepy, was later, named, The Squaw, by it's command pilot, Lt. Royden LeBrecht. It was painted overall in the USAAF standard sand color, which oxidized to light pink in the North African desert sun and heat. The name, Sleepy, and it's nose art, was a picture of one of Walt Disney's cartoon characters, Snow White's dwarf, Sleepy, which was painted on the RH side of the plane's forward nose section. Later, after, Royden LeBrecht took ownership of, and renamed the plane : The Squaw, it's nose art, a picture of a naked Indian squaw, was painted on the LH forward nose section. Before the plane went back to the U.S. on it's war bond tour, the name, Sleepy, and the image of Snow White's dwarf, Sleepy, was removed from the RH forward nose section and replaced with a picture of a large map of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations area. The airplane's name, The Squaw, was, first, painted in large letters on the RH side of the aircraft's nose, with a picture of an unclad Indian maiden on her knees, on the RH forward side of the airplane's nose section, looking at a self awarded "Citation", known as, "Wash's Tub Citation", noting the total bombing missions flown by, The Squaw, including the Ploesti mission. These markings were retained throughout the rest of it's combat tour. After the Ploesti mission, the original, Squaw, art work was changed to a scantily clothed, more wholesome looking, Squaw, for viewing by the American people back home on it's war bond tour. It's national insignias in early 1943 were white stars on blue roundels with yellow surrounding borders around the roundels. This was changed later in 1943 with dark blue surrounds, and, later, the addition of two rectangular white "wings" added to each side of the stars and roundels, with a red border around the entire insignia's roundels and wings. The Recall Letter, a large letter, "L" was painted on the outboard sides of the vertical stabilizer fins along with the British tricolored "Fin Flash" insignias.

To further explain the airplane's name change, earlier, in the spring of 1943, in compliance with the, so called, "Snow White Squadron", directive, the name and figure of the dwarf, "Sleepy", had been painted on the RH forward side of 41-11761's nose, but was removed after the plane was renamed, The Squaw, by Lt. Royden Lebrecht, and the picture of, Sleepy, was replaced with a large map of the Mediterranean MTO combat area, depicting it's missions and sorties.

Revisions

Date Contributor Update
24 January 2022 08:42:26 Kickapoo Changes to description
Sources

Added details. - Kickapoo
Date Contributor Update
24 January 2022 08:29:36 Kickapoo Changes to nicknames, markings, description, events and unit associations
Sources

Black Sunday-Ploesti - Michael Hill
Date Contributor Update
19 January 2022 11:48:30 Kickapoo Changes to description
Sources

Black Sunday-Ploesti - Michael Hill
Date Contributor Update
06 January 2022 07:19:20 Kickapoo Changes to markings and description
Sources

Black Sunday-Ploesti - Michael Hill
Date Contributor Update
06 January 2022 05:49:10 Kickapoo Changes to description
Sources

Black Sunday-Ploesti - Michael Hill
Date Contributor Update
06 January 2022 05:17:32 Kickapoo Changes to description
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11761 - Sleepy - The Squaw
Date Contributor Update
06 January 2022 04:57:25 Kickapoo Changes to production block number and markings
Sources

Details added. - Kickapoo
Date Contributor Update
19 December 2021 18:37:02 Kickapoo Changes to nicknames, markings, description and place associations
Sources

Added Details - Kickapoo
Date Contributor Update
02 October 2021 05:59:23 Kickapoo Changes to aircraft associations
Sources

Black Sunday - Michael Hill
Date Contributor Update
02 October 2021 05:55:07 Kickapoo Changes to person associations
Sources

Details added. - Kickapoo
Date Contributor Update
02 October 2021 05:25:58 Kickapoo Changes to nicknames, markings and description
Sources

Black Sunday - Michael Hill
Date Contributor Update
17 August 2021 13:00:20 Emily Changes to nicknames, markings and description
Sources

Changed all instances of aircraft name into sentence case to as per best practice for accessibility.
Date Contributor Update
29 July 2021 16:20:02 Kickapoo Changes to nicknames, markings and description
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11761 - THE SQUAW
Date Contributor Update
06 May 2021 05:27:06 Kickapoo Changes to markings
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11761 - 'Sleepy - 'The Squaw'
Date Contributor Update
06 May 2021 05:20:07 Kickapoo Changes to person associations
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11761 - 'Sleepy - 'The Squaw'
Date Contributor Update
06 May 2021 05:14:45 Kickapoo Changes to description
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11761 - 'Sleepy - 'The Squaw'
Date Contributor Update
30 April 2021 11:37:17 Kickapoo Changes to markings
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11761 - 'Sleepy - 'The Squaw'
Date Contributor Update
30 April 2021 11:05:09 Kickapoo Changes to nicknames and markings
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11761 - 'Sleepy - 'The Squaw'
Date Contributor Update
30 April 2021 10:49:25 Kickapoo Changes to description
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11761 - 'The Squaw
Date Contributor Update
26 February 2021 02:27:51 Kickapoo Changes to markings
Sources

B-24 - Best Web - # 41-11767
Date Contributor Update
15 December 2020 10:02:34 Kickapoo Changes to nicknames
Sources

John S Young Jr - personal archives
Date Contributor Update
21 November 2016 04:51:38 466thHistorian Changes to production block number, nicknames, unit associations and place associations
Sources

http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b24_18.html
Date Contributor Update
31 March 2015 18:38:12 Al_Skiff Changes to events
Sources

http://texashistory.unt.edu / http://www.b24bestweb.com
Date Contributor Update
31 March 2015 17:20:03 Al_Skiff Created entry with serial number, aircraft type, production block number, manufacturer, nicknames, description, events, unit associations, person associations, mission associations and media associations
Sources

http://texashistory.unt.edu / http://www.b24bestweb.com

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