Jacob Epting is listed as Jake Jr. in the US 1940 census and his Father as Jake. NARA’s WWII Enlistment records have him as Jacob. Jacob/Jake Jr graduated from Tupelo High School in 1938. After his enlistment in the Air Corps in early 1941, he trained as a Pilot and was sent to England.



Assigned to the 93rd Bomb Group / 409th Bomb Squadron, he and his crew participated in numerous missions of the Group over Northern Europe before being sent to Northwest Africa in early December 1942, to assist in fighting German and Italian troops there after the November landings. Under the control of the nascent 12th Air Force, the crew flew on many missions against enemy depots, docks and shipping in Tunisia, Sicily, Libya and Italy.



When the Epting crew was ordered back to England in February 1943, they were assigned to fly B-24H 41-23740 “Red Ass”. They took off on 25 February 1943 with 15 men on board from Port Lyautey, French Morocco, but en route over Spanish Morocco, they ran low on fuel. All on board agreed to crash-land the plane instead of bailing out and Pilot Epting managed to land the Liberator near Tiztoutine in Spanish Morocco. Captured by Spanish forces, the men were sent to Spain and Lt Epting and some others spent some time in a hotel in Alhama de Aragon before being released and sent back to England in June 1943, like all their comrades. 41-23740 was flown to Spain by Spanish Air Force personnel.



Among his many missions, Lt. Epting flew on the 1 August 1943 one to the Ploesti oil installations on B-24 41-24105 “Tupelo Lass”, named after his hometown in Mississippi. He completed his tour and returned to the United States.



Chapter 10 of "Ted's Travelling Circus" chronicles the Moroccan incident with the forced crash-landing of B-24 41-23740. See also Top Turret Gunner Sgt Ben Kuroki's story at http://www.ploesti.com/Kuroki%20Book%202-10.pdf