B-24D - Col. John Riley "Killer" Kane - 9th Air force - 98th Bombardment Group - 344th Bombing Squadron Bomb Group, 1943. Col. Kane picked the B-24, 'Grumpy' to be his personal airplane, for the second time, and renamed it, 'Hail Columbia' to fly the Ploesti mission, as one of the five Group Leaders' aircraft. He picked Lt. John S. Young to be his copilot for the mission, Lt. Harold Korger to be his bombardier, and Lt. Norman Whalen to be his navigator. Col. Kane was awarded the Medal Of Honor for successfully leading his element of Bomb Groups to their targets and for successfully bombing his target, the Astra Romano refinery complex. The entire crew, all survived the mission. Col. Kane and Lt. Young flew their crippled bomber, 'Hail Columbia' to Nicosia, Cyprus, and crashed on landing, destroying Kane's beloved airplane. - John Young reported that, as they were surveying the damage to "Hail Columbia' the next morning, he saw tears in John Kane's eyes. Such was how many of the men felt about the airplanes that they felt had saved their lives. August 2, 1943.