9th Air Force
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- The B-24D - Kickapoo, with it's regular crew, and pilot, Lt. John S. Young on the far right, before the mission to bomb Ploesti. Lt. John Young and his regular crew member's lives were spared when Group Leader Col. John R. Kane reassigned them to fly with him in his plane, Hail Columbia, on Operation Tidal Wave over Ploesti. Kickapoo crashed and burned on takeoff for the Ploesti mission, killing the two replacement pilots and all but two of it's replacement crew, Lt Russel Polivka, navigator, and SSgt Eugene Garner, gunner. - Aircraft Destroyed - Lete, Libya - 1 Aug 1943
Kickapoo's reassigned crew for the Ploesti bombing mission : ---
1st Lt. Robert J. Nespor - Pilot - (KIA) - 98th BG - Died two weeks later from his burns 2nd Lt. John C. Riley - Co Pilot (KIA) Detached Service from 93rd BG - Died from his burns
2nd Lt. Russell W. Polivka - Navigator (WIA) D.S. from 93rd BG - Severely Burned - Recovered after long rehabilitation
T/Sgt. Vaun D. Wenrich -Engineer/Top Turret (KIA) D.S. from 93rd BG - Died of his injuries
T/Sgt. Armand R. Massart - Radio Op (KIA) D.S. from 93rd BG - Died of his injuries
S/Sgt. George W. Lawlor - Gunner (KIA) D.S. from 93rd BG - Died of his injuries
S/Sgt. Edwin G. Sliwa - Gunner (KIA) D.S. from 93rd BG - Died of his injuries
S/Sgt. Eugene R. Garner - Gunner (WIA) D.S. from 93rd BG - Badly burned - Survived and recovered after long rehabilitation.
S/Sgt. John P. D'Armour - Gunner (KIA) D.S. from 93rd BG
Connections
Units
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98th Bomb Group
Group
The 98th trained for bombardment missions with B-24 Liberators during the first half of 1942. ... -
344th Bomb Squadron
Squadron
The 344th Bombing Squadron was first activated at MacDill Field, Florida as one of the original three squadrons assigned to the 98th Bombardment Group. The 344th soon moved to Barksdale Field, Louisiana, where it began to train as a Consolidated B-24...
People
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Eugene Garner
Military | Staff Sergeant | Gunner
Crew member SSgt. Eugene Robert Garner flew on Operation Tidal wave and was one of two survivors of the crash of the B-24D, KICKAPOO, on takeoff for the Ploesti mission. He was assigned as part of a replacement crew for the B-24D, KICKAPOO, from the... -
Robert Nespor
Military | First Lieutenant | B-24 Command Pilot
1st Lt. Robert James Nespor, Jr. was a B-24D command bomber pilot in the 9th Air Force, the 98th Bombardment Group, "The Pyramiders", and the 330th Bombing Squadron. For the huge mission to bomb the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, on Operation... -
Russell Polivka
Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator
Lt. Russell W. Polivka was a navigator, and part of the replacement crew assigned to the B-24D Liberator, 41-11768, KICKAPOO, of 344th Bomb Squadron, the 98th Bomb Group, and the 9th Air Force, for Operation Tidal Wave over Ploesti, Romania. Flown by... -
John Riley
Military | Second Lieutenant | B-24 Co-Pilot
2nd Lt. John Clark Riley was a B-24D pilot in the 9th Air Force, the 93rd Bomb Group, and the 330th Bomb Squadron at Benghazi, Libya, in the Mediterranean theater (MTO) during WWII. Lt. Riley and his command Pilot Robert Nespor from the 98th Bomb... -
John Young
Military | Major | B-24 Command Pilot
Lieutenant John S. Young was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. Bored with college at SMU in Dallas, and knowing the country was headed for war, he joined the Army Air Force early in 1941 and began training as an aviation cadet. He was known as "Johnny"...
Aircraft
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41-11768 Kickapoo
B-24 Liberator
The B-24D Liberator, 41-11768, named, Kickapoo, was piloted by Lt. John S. Young from Dallas, Texas as part of the 9th Air Force, the 98th Bomb Group, and the 344th Bombing Squadron, which arrived in North Africa in early 1943. This airplane was...
Missions
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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...
Locations
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Lete
Military site : airfield
Revisions
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 03 September 2021 20:18:35 | Kickapoo | Changes to caption and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
Best Web - B-24 - Kickapoo |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 13 August 2021 07:10:18 | Kickapoo | Changes to caption, person associations, place associations and aircraft associations |
| Sources | ||
Personal Archives - Kickapoo |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 13 August 2021 06:49:12 | Kickapoo | Changes to caption and person associations |
| Sources | ||
Personal Archives - Kickapoo |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 26 July 2021 00:12:34 | Kickapoo | Changes to caption, person associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
Best Web - B-24 - KICKAPOO |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 04 January 2021 12:46:14 | Kickapoo | Changes to caption |
| Sources | ||
Personal Archives - John S Young Jr |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 15 December 2020 09:12:53 | Kickapoo | Changes to collection |
| Sources | ||
John S Young Jr - personal archives |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 18 September 2019 13:04:12 | general ira snapsorter | Changes to aircraft associations |
| Sources | ||
Removed associations not depicted in image |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 08 September 2019 00:15:15 | Kickapoo | Changes to caption |
| Sources | ||
Ploesti - Anatomy Of A Disaster - Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg ---- Black Sunday - Michael Hill ---- John S. Young, Jr. - personal archives |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 21 August 2019 09:24:00 | Kickapoo | Created entry with collection, caption, unit associations, person associations, aircraft associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
Ploesti - Anatomy Of A Disaster - Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg ---- Black Sunday - Michael Hill ---- John S. Young, Jr. - personal archives |
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