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. It was in the 9th Air Force, the 98th Bomb Group, and the 344th Bomb Squadron. Capt. Taylor, flying over Ploesti, 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 B-24s exited the smoke behind Flight 1, The Vulgar Virgin, was gone. It was shot down and lost in the smoke over the Astra Romano refinery complex after taking two direct flak hits. After taking the hits, Lt. Taylor called for bailout. But, he was the only one of the four crewmen, who bailed out at low altitude, who survived, and became a prisoner of war. The rest of the 9 crew members were KIA. 1 POW - 9 KIA. August 1, 1943 Note - The other "twin" B-24D flown on the Ploesti mission, 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, and survived the Ploesti mission, along with his crew, but were also hit by flak over their target, also, White lV, Lt. Turner elected to fly to Chorlu, Turkey, where he landed and he, his crew, and airplane 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. After returning to Britain, Lt. Claude Turner and his crew were shot down and killed (KIA) in the B-24D, Birmingham Blitzkrieg, 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.

~ Note : Photo of, Black Jack, 41-23661, flown by Command Pilot Lt. Delbert Hahn, with an apparently robbed part, the RH vertical stabilizer fin with the paint, serial number, and RCL, from Claude Turner's B-24D, The Vulgar Virgin, 42-40608. This picture of, Black Jack, 41-23661, showing that the numbers and the olive drab paint on the inside of the RH vertical stabilizer on this plane are originally from, 42-40608, Lt. Claude Turner's, Vulgar Virgin, that he piloted, and with his crew, he flew on Operation Tidal Wave to Ploesti, Romania. 1 Aug 1943. After bombing his target refinery at White IV, there was enough damage to his plane that Lt. Turner had to land in Turkey, a neutral country at that time, and was interned. - But, somehow, this good RH tail fin must have been robbed from, 42-40608, in Turkey, and installed on, 41-23661, this, Black Jack, back at Benghazi. Aug, 5, 1943.

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

B- 24D - Chug-A-Lug - 41-11766 - Right wing barrage balloon cable damage repair after Ploesti Mission, 1943. Note : A careful examination of the photo appears to show the right hand, outboard end of the right horizontal stabilizer with it's vertical stabilizer removed for repair or replacement.

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 the gunner, SSgt Eugene Garner, escaped Kickapoo's wreckage, badly burned. They gradually recovered and eventually returned to service. (WIA) (RTS) . Aircraft lost. Number 4 engine failure. - 8 KIA - 2 WIA. Aug 1, 1943

B-24D Stinger - 41-11817, was flown by Pilot Andrew Opsata, Copilot Louis Quaglino, with their Bombardier, Don Di Coscoe, but was named, Stinger, by his Navigator Maj. Howard LaLonde. All of them were detached (TDY) to the 98th Bomb Group in the 9th Air Force for the Ploesti mission 1943