The B-24D, 41-24226, Joisey Bounce, was assigned to Pilot Walter Travis Stewart in the the 330th Bomb Squadron, the 93rd Bomb Group, and the 8th Air Force, for the large mission to bomb the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. Col. Stewart changed his assigned plane's name from, Joisey Bounce, to, Utah Man, which he had painted on the RH side of the airplane's nose only, for the Ploesti mission, to underscore his Utah Morman background to all the Texans in the 98th Bomb Group. Col. Stewart, was assigned as the Deputy Commander of the 93rd Bomb Group and took command of the 93rd over Ploesti after his Group Leader, Col. Addison Baker and his copilot, Maj. John Jerstad, were shot down and killed in, Hell's Wench, after they turned away from their Element Leader, Col. K.K. Compton made a wrong turn at his first IP, Targoviste,  away from Ploesti, where his targets were, and turned south toward Bucharest. Baker and Jerstad were shot down and killed approaching their target of opportunity, White IV, the Astra Romano refinery. Travis Stewart in, Utah Man, was one of several pilots in the 93rd Bomb Group who had elected to follow Col.Baker, who turned north and west back toward Ploesti after Col. K.K. Compton's wrong turn away from Ploesti at Targoviste, instead of turning north and west, to bomb his assigned target refineries. Stewart, then, successfully bombed White IV, which was not his assigned target, ahead of the 98th Bomb Group coming in from the north. After bombing White IV, he  and the B-24s following him flew right through the 98th's formation of airplanes, including, Hail Columbia, with pilots Col. John Kane and Lt. John Young, leading the 98th and 44th Bomb Groups, and, then, headed south for the island of Cyprus, ahead of Col. Kane, following him in his shot up, damaged, and struggling lead aircraft, Hail Columbia, followed by Lt. Royden LeBrecht in, The Squaw, Lt. Robert Sternfels in, The Sandman, and Lt. Gib Hadley and his plane, Hadley's Harem. But Lt. Hadley never made it home. He crashed and drowned with his copilot, caught in their crushed plane's cockpit after crashing into the ocean just off the Turkish coast, with seized engines out of engine oil and gasoline, before they reached safety at Nicosia, Cyprus. The crews of the other 98th's planes, and several others, following John Kane, made it to Cyprus, with Robert strenfels giving John Kane a ride to Cairo in his plane, The Sandman.Several of the straggler planes also flew home to Benghazi, the next day, minus Lt. Hadley, his copilot, and his bombardier, both killed (KIA) by flak over Ploesti. Lt. Hadley, his bombardier, and his copilot, all drowned in the Mediterranean Sea off the Turkish coast. 3 KIA. Seven crewmen survived Hadley's crash, swam to shore, and were captured and interned by the Turks. 7 INT-TURK. 1 Aug 1943.



After the Ploesti raid, Col. Stewart's B-24D, Utah Man, was again renamed, Joisey Bounce, by the 93rd's airmen and returned to Britain with the rest of the 93rd Bomb Group. At that time, Walter Stewart's name, Utah Man, on the right side of the nose, was also repainted back to, "Joisey Bounce".



Months later, flying out of Britain, Joisey Bounce, was lost and failed to return (FTR) from a mission to Bremen, Germany. On the way to their target, the crew of, Joisey Bounce, suffered a midair collision with the B-24D, 42-40765, Valient Virgin (misspelled by crew), with all crewmen in both planes killed in action. 20 KIA. - 13 Nov 1943. MACR 2179.



Col. Stewart and his crew returned, first, to Britain and, then, to Fort Worth, Texas, in the B-24D, Bomerang, with Lt. Royden LeBrecht and his crew, flying their plane, The Squaw, and Lt. John S. Young and his crew, who flew the B-24D, The Blue Streak, to Britain, and back to Fort Worth, Texas, for a war bond tour of America in 1944.