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41-11761

B-24 Liberator

The B-24D Liberator bomber, SN #41-11761, was first named, 'Sleepy', and, later, renamed, 'The Squaw'. It flew on the famous Ploesti bombing mission, returning to Cyprus, piloted by Lt. Royden L. Lebrecht. After Ploesti and and the completion of his tour, Lt. Lebrecht and his crew returned with 'The Squaw' to Fort Worth, Texas, USA, for a war bond tour, with Walter Stewart, and Lt. John Young in the B-24, "The Blue Streak'.

The B-24D, 'SLEEPY', later, 'THE SQUAW', was in the 9th Air force - the 98th Bomb Group - ( The Pyramiders ) - and the 343rd Bomb Squadron. 'The Squaw' was flown on the Ploesti mission by Lt. Royden LeBrecht, and returned safely to Nicosia, Cyprus, providing cover for a group of the 98th's flak damaged stragglers, 'Hail Columbia', and Benny Hadley's plane, 'Hadley's Harem', which ran short of fuel and engine oil and crashed just off the Turkish coast trying to ditch his plane in the ocean, killing Lt. Hadley and all but two of his crew. Aug 1, 1943. 'The Squaw' flown by LeBrecht and his crew, with 'The Blue Streak', and 'Utah Man' flown respectively, by Lt. John Young, and Major Walter Stewart, all returned to Fort Worth, Texas after the Ploesti mission for a war bond tour.

Service

Aircraft

  • 41-24226 'Joisey Bounce' - 'Utah Man'

    B-24 Liberator
    The B-24D, SN #41-24226, 'Joisey Bounce' was assigned to Pilot Col. Walter T. Stewart of the 330 Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, for the famous mission to bomb the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, Aug 1,1943. Col. Stewart changed his...

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

    B-24 Liberator
    The B-24D, 'Hail Columbia', # 41-11825, originally served in the 9th Air Force, the 98th Bomb Group, and the 344th Bombing Squadron. It was, first, 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

  • 9th Air Force

    9th Air Force

  • 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

  • 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.

  • 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 | Commanding Officer, Command Pilot | 98th Bomb Group
    John Riley Kane (January 5, 1907 – May 29, 1996) 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...

  • 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.

  • Royden LeBrecht

    Military | Captain | B-24 Command Pilot | 98th Bomb Group
    Lt. Royden Louis LeBrecht was a B-24D command pilot in the 9th Air force, the 98th Bomb Group, and the 344th Bomb Squadron. He flew his B-24D, he named 'The Squaw' on Operation Tidal Wave, the large mission to destroy the German held oil refineries at...

  • Albert Mickish

    Military | First Lieutenant | Bombardier
    Bombardier 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.

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Missions

  • Operation Tidal Wave

    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...

Places

  • Benina

    Military site : airfield

Events

Event Location Date
Survived Ploesti Ploiești, Romania 1 August 1943

B-24 Liberator #4111761 'The Squaw' flew on the 1st Aug 43 Ploesti raid, recovering to Cyprus, piloted by Royden L Lebrecht.
Assigned Benghazi, Libya

343 BS, 98 BG, 9 AF.
War Bond Tour Fort Worth, TX, USA

B-24 Liberator #4111761 'The Squaw' returned to Fort Worth, TX, USA for a war bond tour.
Nicknames
'Sleepy' - 'The Squaw'
Production block number
B-24D-CO
Manufacturer
Consolidated
Markings and paint scheme/livery

The B-24D, first named, 'Sleepy', was later, named, 'The Squaw'. It was painted overall in the USAAF sand/tan color, which oxidized to a light pink color in the North African desert sun and heat. The name, 'Sleepy' and it's nose art, a picture of one of Snow White's dwarfs, 'Sleepy', was painted on the RH forward nose section. Later, after 'Sleepy' was renamed, 'THE SQUAW', the name and image of 'Sleepy' was removed from the LH side and replaced with a picture of a large map of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations area. The name, 'The Squaw', was painted in large letters with a picture of an unclad Indian maiden on the starboard / RH forward side of the airplane's nose section, along with a self awarded "Citation" noting all the bombs dropped by 'The Squaw" and it's missions, including the Ploesti mission, and a number of bombs representing it's total missions flown. These marking were retained throughout the rest of it's combat tour. After the Ploesti mission, the original "Squaw" art work was changed to reflect a clothed, more wholesome looking, 'Squaw', for viewing by the people back home on it's war bond tour. It's national insignia in early 1943 was a white star on a blue roundel with a yellow surround around the border of the roundel. This was changed later in 1943 with the addition of two rectangular "wings" added to the star and roundel, with a red border surround around the entire insignia's roundel and wings.

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 port / LH forward side of #41-11761's nose, but was removed when the plane was renamed, 'The Squaw', and replaced with a large Mediterranean (MTO) map of the combat area depicting it's sorties.

Revisions

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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