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Lieutenant Albert J. Mickish standing beside B-24 #4111761 "The Squaw" that successfully covered 71 missions without a casualty.
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Back Row L to R
Gen Hoyt S Vanderberg
P 1st Lt Royden L Lebrecht, Denison, TX
C 1st Lt Clinton H Killian, Roosevelt, Utah
N 1st Lt Grover A Zink, Qron, Kansas
B 1st Lt Albert J Mickish, Perry, OK
Lt Col Robert H Parham
Radio T/Sgt JohnR Reilly, Utica, NY
Front Row L to R
E T/Sgt Harold F Weir, Lapeer, MI
Rad Ast S/Sgt Paul E Davidson, Springfield, Mo
Ast Eng S/Sgt John A Givens Jr, Louis, Mo
Crew Chief M/Sgt Paul T Bashis, Cambridge, Mass
Tail S/Sgt John Gunnu, Albany, NY
Gunner S/Sgt Adney J Harmon, Sacco, Maine
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The crew standing and sitting on top of their famous B-24D Liberator, 41-11761, 'The "Squaw",' that successfully flew on 71 combat missions without a casualty. 1944
Lt. Albert "AJ" Mickish was a bombardier on the B-24 41-24040, What's Cooking Doc ? - Big Operator, and started out flying on Operation Tidal Wave to Ploesti, Romania. His plane aborted the mission with turbocharger problems and diverted to Cyprus. 1-Aug-943.
Lt. Mickish flew on the B-24D, 41-11761, The Squaw, returning to Fort Worth, Texas, for a war bond tour 1944.
Awards: DFC, AM (5OLC), American Defense and Campaign medals, WWII Victory Medal, EAME (2 x Battle Stars).
His DFC was awarded under an earlier General Order. Jun-43.
Service
People
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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...
Units served with
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Group
The 98th trained for bombardment missions with B-24 Liberators during the first half of 1942.
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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...
Aircraft
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B-24 Liberator
The B-24D Liberator bomber, 41-11761, was first named, Sleepy, by the men in the 8th Air Force and the 93rd Bomb Group in the U.K. It was, later, renamed, The Squaw, by it's Command Pilot, Lt. Royden LeBrecht, after being transferred to the 9th Air...
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B-24 Liberator
The B-24D, 41-24040, What's Cooking Doc ? - Big Operator, started out on Operation Tidal Wave, the mission to bomb the Ploesti oil refineries, piloted by Lt. Hoover Edwards. Aircraft aborted near the island of Corfu with turbo supercharger problems. ...
Missions
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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...
Events
Event |
Location |
Date |
Born |
Perry, OK |
5 October 1917 |
Son of Frank and Theresa [Tetyak] Mickish.
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Enlisted |
Oklahoma City, OK |
3 November 1941 |
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
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Lived in |
Perry, OK 73077, USA |
1943 |
Based |
Benina |
1943 – 1944 |
Assigned to 343BS, 98BG, 9AF USAAF.
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Marriage |
Florida |
16 January 1943 |
Married Mildred Ruth Newell.
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Survived Ploesti, aborted |
Ploiești, Romania |
1 August 1943 |
Bombardier B-24 41-24040 ‘What’s Cooking Doc ? - Big Operator’ flew on the 1-Aug-43 Ploesti raid, diverted to Cypress.
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War Bonds Tour |
Fort Worth, TX, USA |
1944 |
Returned to Fort Worth, TX, USA for war bonds tour with A/C.
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Died |
Denver, CO |
8 February 2007 |
'AJ' Mickish was born Oct. 5, 1917, on a small farm a few miles south of Perry. He died Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007, in Denver, Colo. Mickish had served the city of Edmond and vicinity as a veterinarian for more than 52 years. He graduated from Perry High School and earned a bachelor’s degree at Oklahoma State University in 1941. That same year he entered the Air Force via the ROTC program and became a bombardier, eventually serving under the commanding officer of the 98th Bomb Group, until the Aug. 1, 1943, B-24 attack against the Romanian oil fields and refineries at Ploesti, Romania. Of 178 airplanes that left on the raid, 54 never returned. He was honorably discharged as a captain and took advantage of the GI bill and earned a Veterinary Medical Doctor (VMD) degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He established the first “animal hospital” in Edmond in 1950 and became known as “Doc” Mickish. He built the Edmond Animal Clinic in 1953 on the south side of Hwy. 66 (now known as East Second Street, 1/2 mile east of Broadway, just outside of the Edmond city limits. The location is now occupied by the new Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Forensic Center. Mickish is survived by his wife of 64 years, Mildred Mickish; four children; two sisters; three granddaughters, two step-granddaughters, a step-grandson, and two step-great-grandsons.
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