B-24D Liberator 42-40655, named, Four Eyes, and, Damfino, and crew lost on the Ploesti raid. 1st Aug 43 MACR 174 ◼ William R DeBusk :: Navigator ◼Robert C Elliott :: Gunner ◼Zelwood A Gravlin :: Gunner ◼Lawrence J Hadcock :: Pilot ◼James B Hale :: Engineer ◼Ralph D Kolb :: Gunner ◼John E Kraft :: Co-Pilot ◼Eugene J O'Mara :: Gunner ◼Lawrence E Reitz :: Radio Operator ◼Peter A Timpo :: Bombardier

This is a photo of Capt. Wallace Taylor's B-24D, The Vulgar Virgin - 41- 24198 - 9th Air Force, 98th Bomb Group, and 344th Bomb Squadron. Capt. Taylor, flying in the center of Flight 5, the last of the four flights behind Col. John Kane in the 98th's lead aircraft, Hail Columbia, entered a wall of smoke over White IV behind, Hail Columbia, and several other B-24s. When the small group of B-24s exited the smoke, The Vulgar Virgin, was gone. It was shot down and lost Over the Astra Romano refinery after taking two direct flak hits. After taking direct hits approaching the smoke cloud, Lt. Taylor called for bailout. But, he was the only one of the four crewmen who bailed out at the low altitude at approximately 200 to 500 feet, who survived and became a prisoner of war - POW. The rest of the crew were KIA - August 1, 1943 Note - The other B-24D flown on the Ploesti mission, also named, The Vulgar Virgin, aircraft, 42-40608, from Britain and the 8th Air force - the 93rd Bomb Group - and the 328th Bomb Squadron, was flown by Lt. Claude Alvin Turner, survived the Ploesti mission, along with his crew, but were also hit by flak over their target and Turner elected to fly to Chorlu, Turkey, where they landed and were interned after the Ploesti mission, Aug 1, 1943. Lt. Turner and his navigator escaped from the Turks and returned to the 8th Air Force after the Ploesti mission. The Turks eventually released the rest of Turner's crew, as well. After returning to Britain, Lt. Claude Turner and his crew were shot down and killed (KIA) over the North Sea. Nov 13, 1943.

The B-24D, Hail Columbia's, flight officers. From the left : Lt. John S. Young, copilot, Lt. Harold Korger, bombardier, and Lt. Norman Whalen, their gifted navigator and nose gunner, celebrate after the Ploesti raid. 1943.

B-24D - 42-40608 - The Vulgar Virgin - and it's command pilot, Lt. Claude A. Turner, and his crew, were all from the 8th Air Force, the 93rd Bomb Group, and the 328th Bomb Squadron in Britain. This airplane was Lt. Turners' assigned aircraft and was flown by him and his crew on Operation Tidal Wave, the large mission to destroy the German held oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. Lt. Claude Turner and The Vulgar Virgin survived the mission damaged but with no casualties and was flown by Lt. Turner to Chorlu, Turkey, where he, his crew, and The Vulgar Virgin were all interned by the Turkish Air Force. The crew was later released back to the U.S. Army Air Forces. Turner and his bombardier escaped from the Turks and returned to the UK. - RTD . After returning to duty in Britain with the 8th Air force after the Ploesti mission, Lt. Turner and his crew, flying an 8th Air Force B-17 were shot down and killed over the North Sea by an FW-190 Focke Wulf fighter after a bombing mission to Bremen and Helgoland- KIA. Nov 13, 1943

2nd Lt. John Clark Riley from the 8th Air Force, and the 93rd Bomb Group was assigned to fly as a replacement copilot with his command pilot, Lt. Robert Nespor, in John Young's regular airplane, Kickapoo, for the large Ploesti mission. Kickapoo suffered a catastrophic failure of it's number 4 engine on takeoff for the mission and crashed in flames, killing Lt. Nespor, John Riley, and all but two of their replacement crew - killed in action, 8 KIA, 2 WIA - RTS. They were the first of over three hundred casualties on Operation Tidal Wave, before the mission had even started. August 1, 1943.

B-24D 'RAUNCHY' - B - 24 - D - CO - SN #41-11819 - 9th AF - 98th BG - 344th BS. - Lost on OPERATION TIDAL WAVE, August 1,1943. Ploesti Romania. - MACR 169 - Pilot Lt. Samuel R. Neeley. Copilot - Lt. Herman H. Henslee. KIA - Aug 1943

Lt. Sam Neeley's B-24D, "Raunchy", and it's crew. Pilot Lt. Sam Neeley is in the front row, second from right, smiling. Lt. Neeley and most of his crew were killed (KIA), over Ploesti, after "Raunchy" snagged a barrage balloon cable on their right wing, pulling an explosive charge on the cable down, which detonated on contact with the wing and blew the wing off, crashing the airplane into the ground. Lt. Neeley and seven of his crewmen were killed in the crash. 8 (KIA). Two crewmen, SSgt Schiffmacher and SSgt Allen, survived the crash and were captured wounded. 2 (WIA) (POW). August 1, 1943 1

The B-24D Liberator bomber, 41-11913, named, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in the 9th Air Force, the 98th Bomb, and the 343rd Bombardment Squadron, at Lete Airfield, Benghazi, Libya. The airplane was lost, as it flew into another aircraft, flying through a cloud on a daylight bombing raid over Reggio Di Calabria, Italy. The entire crew was killed in action. 10 KIA. May 1, 1943

The B-24D, Kickapoo - First casualty of Operation Tidal Wave. Engine failure on takeoff. Crashed at Lete Airfield. Pilots, Lt. Robert Nespor, Lt. John C. Riley, and all but two of the crew were killed (KIA). Two crewmen, Lt. Russel Polivka, the navigator, and a gunner, SSgt Eugene Garner, escaped Kickapoo's wreckage, badly burned. They recovered and eventually returned to service. (WIA) (RTS) . Aircraft lost. Number 4 engine failure. - 8 KIA - 2 WIA. Aug 1, 1943

Lt. Royden LeBrecht's B-24D, The "Squaw" . Royden flew The "Squaw" on the desperate mission to destroy Hitler's oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. Aug 1, 1943. Both Lebrecht and The "Squaw" survived the mission. LeBrecht joined up with several straggler aircraft from his 98th Bomb Group and several of the 376th Bomb Group's pilots and planes south of Ploesti, who had followed their leader, Col. Addison Baker and broke away from Col. Kieth Compton's Lead to fly north and bomb Ploesti's refinery, "White IV", after Compton turned hid Lead aircraft away from Ploesti toward Bucharest. LeBrecht and his crew made it all the way south, following Col. John Kane's lead airplane, 'Hail Columbia', where they landed safely at the British Air base at Nicosia, Cyprus. Ploesti was Royden Lebrecht's last combat mission. After the mission, he returned to the U.S. and went on a year long war bond tour, flying his favorite B-24, 'The "Squaw" '.