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41-11836

B-24 Liberator

  • The B-24D : Lil De-icer - 41-11836 - and crew with Pilot Lt. James Lee Merrick. Second nose art version of the, Lil-De-icer, girl on it's nose section. The airplane and crew survived Operation Tidal Wave and returned to base (RTB) at Lete airbase, Benghazi, Libya. 10 RTS. 1 Aug, 1942.

    The B-24D : Lil De-icer - 41-11836 - and crew with Pilot Lt. James Lee Merrick. Second nose art version of the, Lil-De-icer, girl on it's nose section. The airplane and crew survived Operation Tidal Wave and returned to base (RTB) at Lete airbase, Benghazi, Libya. 10 RTS. 1 Aug, 1942.

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  • B-24D Liberator, 41-11836, named, Lil De-icer, was in the 415th Bomb Squadron, the 98th Bomb Group, and the 9th Air Force, based at the Lete Airbase at Benghazi, Libya. It flew on the Ploesti oil refinery bombing mission piloted by James L Merrick, returning safely to Libya. 1 Aug 43.

    B-24D Liberator, 41-11836, named, Lil De-icer, was in the 415th Bomb Squadron, the 98th Bomb Group, and the 9th Air Force, based at the Lete Airbase at Benghazi, Libya. It flew on the Ploesti oil refinery bombing mission piloted by James L Merrick, returning safely to Libya. 1 Aug 43.

    Show caption About this image
  • B-24D Liberator, 41-11836, Lil De-icer, was in the 415th Bomb Squadron, the 98th Bomb Group, in the 9th Air Force. It flew on the Ploesti oil refinery bombing mission piloted by Lt. James L Merrick, returning safely to Libya. 1 Aug 1943.

    B-24D Liberator, 41-11836, Lil De-icer, was in the 415th Bomb Squadron, the 98th Bomb Group, in the 9th Air Force. It flew on the Ploesti oil refinery bombing mission piloted by Lt. James L Merrick, returning safely to Libya. 1 Aug 1943.

    Show caption About this image
  • The B-24D, Lil De-icer, 41-11836, with it's first painted nose art of the, Lil De-icer, girl. The plane was in the 9th Air Force, the 98th Bomb Group, the Pyramiders, and in the 345th bomb Squadron. It's RCL was, Q. 1943

    The B-24D, Lil De-icer, 41-11836, with it's first painted nose art of the, Lil De-icer, girl. The plane was in the 9th Air Force, the 98th Bomb Group, the Pyramiders, and in the 345th bomb Squadron. It's RCL was, Q. 1943

    Show caption About this image
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Note : This B-24D Liberator airplane, 41-11836, should not be mistaken for another B-24D, 42-40965, also named, Lil De-icer, which was in the 11th Air Force, the 28th Bomb Group, and the 404th Bomb Squadron, in the Pacific Theater of Operations. It's RCL was 65.

The B-24D, 41-11836, named, Lil De-icer, was in the 345th Bomb Squadron, the 98th Bomb Group, and the 9th Air Force, based, first, in Tunis, Tunisia, Tobruk, Egypt, and Benghazi, Libya, in 1943. The plane was flown by Command Pilot, Lt. James Lee Merrick on Operation Tidal Wave, the low level Ploesti oil refinery mission, returning safely to Libya (RTD). Aug 1,1943.

The aircraft, 41-11836, was later transferred to the 9th Air Force, the 98th Bomb Group, and the 415th Bomb Squadron. 25 Aug 1944.

Service

Aircraft

  • 41-11836 - Lil De-icer

    B-24 Liberator
    Note : This B-24D Liberator airplane, 41-11836, should not be mistaken for another B-24D, 42-40965, also named, Lil De-icer, which was in the 11th Air Force, the 28th Bomb Group, and the 404th Bomb Squadron, in the Pacific Theater of Operations. It...

  • 42-40965 - Lil De-icer

    B-24 Liberator
    This B-24 Liberator, 42-40965, was reported deployed to the South Pacific Theater of Operations, and is one of two B-24s known to have been named, Lil De-icer. It's pilot was Lt. Robert E. Allred. It was assigned to the 90th Bomb Group in the 11th Air...

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Units

  • 98th Bomb Group

    98th Bomb Group

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

  • 345th Bomb Squadron

    345th 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

  • James Merrick

    Military | First Lieutenant | B-24 Command Pilot | 98th Bomb Group
    BIRTH : 27 Sep 1920 - Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, USA ...

  • John Morgester

    Military | Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade) | gunner

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

  • Lete

    Military site : airfield

Events

Event Location Date
Assigned Benghazi, Libya 1942

Assigned to : the 345th Bomb Squadron, the 98th Bomb Group, in the 9th Air Force.
Survived Ploesti Ploiești, Romania 1 August 1943

Aircraft flew on the Ploesti oil refinery mission piloted by Lt. James L. Merrick, returning safely to Libya. 1 Aug 43.
Assigned Benghazi 25 August 1944

Transferred to the 9th Air Force, the 98th Bomb Group, and the 415th Bomb Squadron, on Aug 25, 1944.
Nicknames
- Lil De-icer
Production block number
B-24D - CO
Manufacturer
Consolidated
Markings and paint scheme/livery

The B-24D, 41-11836, named, Lil De-icer, was painted in The US Army's standard sand color for camouflage in the MTO's African desert. It's nose art was a picture of a sitting scantily clad young lady looking away from the aircraft's painted name, Lil De-icer, both painted on the RH forward nose section with a large heart made of smaller hearts denoting bombing missions and small swastika's behind the bombardier's glass numbering seven German and Italian fighter airplanes shot down or destroyed by the nose gunners. The national insignias were white stars, sometimes painted over with a dull grey color, on blue roundels with yellow surrounds, and, later in 1943, changed to dark blue border surrounds.

Revisions

Date Contributor Update
15 May 2022 17:30:59 Al_Skiff Changes to unit associations
Sources

http://www.b24bestweb.com / http://www.freewebs.com
Date Contributor Update
04 April 2022 10:43:07 Kickapoo Changes to description
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11836 - Lil De-icer
Date Contributor Update
04 April 2022 10:39:03 Kickapoo Changes to markings and description
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11836 - Lil De-icer
Date Contributor Update
04 April 2022 09:01:49 Kickapoo Changes to markings
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11836 - Lil De-icer
Date Contributor Update
04 April 2022 08:54:50 Kickapoo Changes to nicknames, description and events
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11836 - Lil De-icer
Date Contributor Update
29 November 2021 08:40:31 Kickapoo Changes to description
Sources

Spelling , details added. - Kickapoo
Date Contributor Update
29 November 2021 08:23:09 Kickapoo Changes to markings and description
Sources

Black Sunday-Ploesti - Michael Hill
Date Contributor Update
28 November 2021 09:59:56 Kickapoo Changes to description
Sources

Black Sunday-Ploesti - Michael Hill
Date Contributor Update
26 November 2021 21:48:40 Kickapoo Changes to nicknames, markings, description and events
Sources

Black Sunday-Ploesti - Michael Hill
Date Contributor Update
25 November 2021 02:18:23 Kickapoo Changes to description
Sources

Details added. - Kickapoo
Date Contributor Update
25 November 2021 02:03:13 Kickapoo Changes to description and aircraft associations
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11836 - Lil De-icer
Date Contributor Update
25 November 2021 01:47:52 Kickapoo Changes to production block number, markings and description
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11836 - Lil De-icer
Date Contributor Update
23 August 2021 06:19:56 Kickapoo Changes to description
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11836 - Lil De-icer
Date Contributor Update
23 August 2021 04:37:51 Kickapoo Changes to markings and unit associations
Sources

Best Web - B-24 - 41-11836 - Lil De-icer
Date Contributor Update
22 August 2021 04:37:39 Kickapoo Changes to description
Sources

Information additions - Kickapoo
Date Contributor Update
22 August 2021 04:36:14 Kickapoo Changes to nicknames
Sources

Information additions - Kickapoo
Date Contributor Update
22 August 2021 04:35:23 Kickapoo Changes to markings
Sources

Information additions. - Kickapoo
Date Contributor Update
22 August 2021 04:31:34 Kickapoo Changes to markings
Sources

Word additions , changes. Punctuation. - Kiclapoo
Date Contributor Update
22 August 2021 04:27:51 Kickapoo Changes to nicknames, markings and description
Sources

Punctuation, word spacing, - Kickapoo
Date Contributor Update
02 April 2021 07:42:51 Kickapoo Changes to nicknames, markings, description and aircraft associations
Sources

The Great Ground-Air Battle Of 1 August 1943 - James Dugan & Carroll Stewart
Date Contributor Update
20 April 2015 16:41:24 Al_Skiff Created entry with serial number, aircraft type, production block number, manufacturer, nicknames, description, events, unit associations, mission associations and media associations
Sources

http://www.b24bestweb.com / http://www.freewebs.com

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