41-11636 Wash's Tub, Liberandos

Object Number - UPL 14388 - B-24 Liberator - 41-11636 - WASH'S TUB, was in the 9th Air Force, the 376th Bomb Group, and the 514th Bomb Squadron. It was originally a...
The B-24D, Liberator bomber, 41-11636, first named, Wash's Tub, was first flown by Martin Walsh and was originally Halpro aircraft, #24, first, in the Halverson Project in 1942 in the 9th Air Force. It was later transferred to the 8th Air Force, the 376th Bomb Group, and the 514th Bomb Squadron. Wash's Tub, 41-11636, was transferred to the 98th Bomb Group before being sent to 376th Bomb Group. It was flown by Lt. James Bock's crew on the low level mission to Ploesti, Romania. 1 Aug 1943. During this plane's 15 months in the Middle East: It flew 73 missions, dropped 219 tons of bombs, flew 551 hours in combat, shot down 22 fighters, and flew 100,000 miles.
It redeployed to the U.S. on Sept. 13, 1943, for a War Bond Tour and later became a personal and training aircraft for it's original pilot, Martin Walsh, with the number, 636, on the nose.
Martin Walsh, the original HALPRO pilot, who took Wash's Tub overseas in May of 1942, told how, many years ago, after he completed his North African tour, he was assigned to the Pueblo Army Air Base as an instructor. When he arrived at the base, he spotted his old airplane sitting forlorn and forgotten in a remote area of the field, where it had been abandoned after its war bond tour. He was able to commandeer the necessary people and parts to put the plane back in shape, and used it as his own personal hack for the rest of his time at Pueblo. Nobody else would fly such an "ancient B-24", but Walsh said, "It still flew like the champion it was!". The plane was scrapped in Nov. 1946.
Connections
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Units served with

- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Ninth Air Force Twelfth Air Force Fifteenth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment

- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Ninth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment

- Unit Hierarchy: Detachment
- Type Category: Bombardment
People

- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 376th Bomb Group 409th Bomb Group 93rd Bomb Group
- Service Numbers: O-22545 / 1849A
- Highest Rank: Lieutenant General
- Role/Job: Pilot - Squadron Commander - Commanding Officer
Places

- Site type: Airfield
Missions

- Date: 1 August 1943
- Official Description: 177 B-24’s, of IX Bomber Command (including Heavy Bombers on loan from Eighth AF) are dispatched to bomb oil refineries at Ploesti and nearby Campina. The operation (TIDALWAVE) is costly, 54 planes and 532 airmen being lost, but damage to the targets...
- Date: 12 June 1942
- Official Description: 13 B-24’s of detachment under command of Col Harry A Halverson en route from US to China take off during 11Jun from Fayid to bomb oilfields at Ploesti. Only 12 attack at dawn. 4 of the 13 land at base in Iraq which was designated for recovery of the...
Aircraft

- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Wash's Tub, Liberandos
- Unit: 376th Bomb Group 513th Bomb Squadron Halverson Detachment
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Other Ploesti Survivor |
Ploiești, Romania | 1 August 1943 | Flown by the James Bock crew on the August 1, 1943 low-level mission to Ploesti, Romania. |
Other Scrapped |
19 November 1946 | Scrapped at Spokane, WA. Nov. 19, 1946. | |
Other Assigned |
Benghazi, Libya | 514th BS, 376th BG, 8th AF. | |
Other War Bonds Tour |
United States | Aircraft was returned to the U.S. in September 1943 for a War Bond tour and was then used for a training aircraft. |
Revisions
Best Web - B-24 - 41-11636 - Wash's Tub
Changed all instances of aircraft name into sentence case to as per best practice for accessibility.
Punctuation - wording to eliminate duplication - Kickapoo
www.b24bestweb.com/washstub5.htm
Info Contributors - Tom Brittan - Al Blue - Martin Walsh, the original HALPRO pilot.
Punctuation changes for clarity - Kickapoo
www.b24bestweb.com/washstub5.htm - # 41-11636
Reformatted aircraft nickname to remove unnecessary punctuation and quotation marks and removed nose numbers wrongly described as nicknames.
www.b24bestweb.com/washstub4.htm - Stephan Adams - James A Leddy - Tom Brittan - Al Blue
www.b24bestweb.com/washstub4.htm - Stephan Adams - James A Leddy - Tom Brittan - Al Blue
B-24D - 'WASH'S TUB' - 'LIBERANDOS' - '24 - '67 - '636' - '63' - SN # 41-11636
Tom Brittan - Al Blue - Martin Walsh - www.b24bestweb.com/washstub5.htm