Norman Mathew Whalen joined the Army Air Corps in 1941. After graduating from Navigator School in Monroe, Louisiana, he received his commission as a Second Lieutenant and was assigned to the 9th Air force, the 98th Bomb Group, and the 344th Bombing Squadron in North Africa where he flew numerous combat missions, including Operation Tidal Wave, the famous low level B-24 bombing mission over the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, August 1, 1943.



Lt. Whalen normally flew as navigator and nose gunner on Lt. John Young's B-24D, Kickapoo, but he and his crew were chosen by, and assigned to fly with, Col. John R. Kane on his plane, Hail Columbia, for the bombing mission on the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. This proved fortunate for Lt. Whalen, Lt. John Young, and the rest of, Kickapoo's, regular crew because the, Kickapoo, lost power in several engines in succession and crashed in flames just after takeoff for the Ploesti mission, killing all but two of the replacement crewmen. But Lt. Whalen, and his crewmen knew the odds for survival over Ploesti were not good. As they approached Ploesti, flying out of the Danube Valley, and began their final low level run into their target, the Astra Romano Refinery complex, Whalen saw ahead out of the plexiglass greenhouse in, Hail Columbia's, nose, the walls of smoke and flames, the green tracer rounds of the anti aircraft cannon fire streaking into the sky, and the explosions and flames of the fierce fires that, Hail Columbia, was nearing fast, and, then, began flying through, as their two pilots, John Kane and Johnny Young, closed in on their target refineries. And, as his plane began to be hit by the flak explosions of the terrible thundering anti aircraft guns, he thought and later wrote, "I thought I was going to die right there. I thought we all were ! I never thought we could get out of there alive."



For his skill and valor in carrying out his mission as Col. John Kane's group lead navigator and nose gunner, especially for his bravery and exceptional navigational skill on the Ploesti mission, for successfully plotting courses to Ploesti and, then, for navigating, Hail Columbia, and the other damaged B-24s following him, safely out of Romania and all the way back south, over the Pindus mountains, through Turkey, to the British airfield on the Greek Island of Cyprus, Norman Whalen was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross medal and another Oak leaf Cluster to his Distinguished Flying Cross. But he and his crewmen were happy just to be alive, after flying through the man made hell they had flown into and through, over Ploesti, Romania, on Sunday, August, 1, 1943.



After his 36th combat mission, Lt. Whalen was assigned to Mountain Home Air Field, Idaho, where he trained cadets in flight navigation until September 1944. At that time, he requested reassignment back to the 98th Bomb Group, and he flew an additional 39 bombing raids with his original unit. Whalen's combat medals include the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Air Medal with 11 bronze Oak Leaf Clusters and 2 silver Oak Leaf Clusters.



In 1945, Norman Whalen, also became known as, "The Baron", from an article in the "Air Force" magazine, "He Brought Us Home", about him, and especially about the Ploesti mission and Lt. Whalen's extraordinary navigation disciplines and skills coming home from Ploesti, written by his pilot, Capt. John S. Young.



Norman Whalen was honorably discharged from The U.S. Army Air Corps in 1946 with the rank of Major. Whalen returned home to Denton, Texas, where he taught religion at North Texas University for many years and gave many seminars about his experiences in the war and over Ploesti. Norman Whalen died Feb. 27, 2008.