9th Air Force
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First Lieutenant Gilbert "Gib" Hadley, the well liked young pilot in the 344th bomb Squadron of the 98th Bomb Group, and 9th Air Force. He named his airplane 'Hadley's Harem' to denote how many women he said were fond of him. hadley flew on "Operation Tidal Wave" with his friends in the 344th Bomb Squadron of the 98th Bombardment Group and bombed his target, White IV, at Ploesti, Aug 1 1943. He survived attacking Ploesti and had joined Col. John Kane south of Ploesti to fly home. He made it as far as the south Turkish coast close to Nicosia, Cyprus, but had to turn a away from the group in the darkness due to low fuel, and tried to ditch his B-24 just off the Turkish beach but was trapped in the plane's collapsed cockpit and drowned.
Connections
Units
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98th Bomb Group
Group
The 98th trained for bombardment missions with B-24 Liberators during the first half of 1942. ... -
344th Bomb Squadron
Squadron
The 344th Bombing Squadron was first activated at MacDill Field, Florida as one of the original three squadrons assigned to the 98th Bombardment Group. The 344th soon moved to Barksdale Field, Louisiana, where it began to train as a Consolidated B-24...
People
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Gilbert Hadley
Military | First Lieutenant | B-24D Pilot
First Lieutenant Gilbert B. Hadley was a B-24D Liberator bomber pilot with the 9th Air Force, the 98th Bomb Group, "The Pyramiders", from Texas, and the 344th Bombing Squadron, based at Cairo, Egypt, Tobruk, and Benghazi, Libya, in the Mediterranean...
Aircraft
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41-24311 'Hadley's Harem'
B-24 Liberator
The B-24D, named 'Hadley's Harem' was Lt. Gilbert Hadley's personal airplane and the one he flew on the mission to destroy Hitler's oil refineries at Ploesti Romania in 1943. ...
Revisions
| Date | Contributor | Update |
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| 15 December 2020 09:41:04 | Kickapoo | Changes to collection, person associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
John S Young Jr - personal archives |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 07 November 2020 23:21:17 | Kickapoo | Changes to caption |
| Sources | ||
John Simmons Young |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 12 August 2019 11:11:35 | general ira snapsorter | Changes to person associations, aircraft associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
Removed associations not depicted in image. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 11 August 2019 22:10:23 | Kickapoo | Changes to caption |
| Sources | ||
FindAGrave Memorial Black Sunday - Michael Hill ---- The Return Of Hadley's Harem - Michael Schultz ---- John S.Young, Jr. - personal archives |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 11 August 2019 21:53:39 | Kickapoo | Created entry with collection, unit associations, person associations, aircraft associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
The Return Of Hadley's Harem - Michael Schultz ---- FindaGrave Memorial ---- Black Sunday - Michael Hill ---- The Return Of Hadley's Harem - Michael Schultz ---- John S.Young, Jr. - personal archives |
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