I'm sure many readers know of the USAAF raid on the Ploesti oil fields in Romania in 1943, codenamed "Operation Tidal Wave". They were appallingly costly, with well over half the raiding force of B-24 Liberator bombers either shot down, or so badly damaged that they never flew again after the mission. They were also largely unsuccessful; the oil fields and refineries were back in production within weeks, and even increased their output. Nevertheless, the lessons learned on those missions taught the fledgling USAAF a great deal about strategic bombing, and informed its subsequent actions in Europe and the Far East.
The heroism of the crews who flew to Ploesti has long been acknowledged, but I've not seen many accounts of the missions by those who were there. Warfare History Network has just republished a 2017 article about them on its Web site. Here are a few excerpts to set the scene.
Hadley’s Harem was one of 177 B-24 Liberators that had set out that morning to bomb the major source of oil for Nazi Germany. The men had been told that the mission was vital; it would help end the war a lot sooner.
Only 93 planes returned to base, and 60 of those were so badly damaged they never flew again. Of the more than 1,700 airmen on the mission, 532 were killed, captured, wounded, or listed as missing in action. Of those fortunate enough to make it back to Benghazi, 449 were wounded, many so severely they were unfit to return to active service. One of the pilots who made it back, Lieutenant John McCormick, said later, “There wasn’t a man among us who will ever be the same after that 14-hour jaunt to Ploesti.”
Colonel John R. “Killer” Kane, who landed his plane in Turkey after the mission to Ploesti, described the operation as “the worst catastrophe in the history of the Army Air Corps.” Kane’s navigator, Lieutenant Norman Whalen, said, “We knew it was a disaster and knew that in those flames shooting up from the refineries we might be burned to death. But we went right in.”
. . .
To reach the refineries, they had to pass through a narrow valley. Enemy guns lined the route, some situated at a higher altitude than the planes, so they were shooting down at the aircraft. The Germans even had a fast-moving flak train ready to speed down the valley below the waves of bombers and shoot at them from below.
The planes that were able to release their bombs early in the raid sent up columns of burning oil, a deadly screen for the planes that followed. Many of the planes not already damaged by flak burst into flames when they flew through the fire. There was no escape for the crews; they were flying too low to bail out.
. . .
Hadley’s Harem dropped instantly, crashing into the sea with what the survivors later described as a paralyzing shock. A few of the men were knocked unconscious. Page said he bounced like a spring. Water poured in through the flak holes and the open nose, jamming the main escape hatch and trapping them inside the sinking plane. “My God,” Page thought, “am I going to die this way?”
He tried to force the escape hatch open, but it was stuck. As the water rose rapidly in the cockpit, Page saw Gib Hadley and co-pilot Lindsay unstrap their seat belts and flail around, trying to find an opening, but there was none. After another moment, Page saw them die.
He pulled himself into the top turret, took a deep breath of the last remaining air, and plunged down into the water, desperate for an escape route. A glimmer of light caught his eye. It was where the tail of the ship had been sheared off by the crash. Page swam to the surface just as the wreckage of Hadley’s Harem sank.
There's much more at the link.
Hadley's Harem was salvaged many years later, and the bodies of the pilots recovered and buried with full military honors. Part of the aircraft's fuselage is today displayed in a Turkish museum. Click the image for a larger view.
It's a painful account to read, but it's a record of heroism and determination that deserves to be remembered. Highly recommended reading.
Peter
those boys had more courage than anyone alive today. Talk about forgone conclusions and long odds, that raid had it.
ReplyDeletePart of the reason for the high death toll in the Eighth Air Force in Europe was the "mafia" ads they were referred to who fought against extended and expanded fighter cover. This was a turf war over the glory of the bombers fought by the arm chair commandos of the Eighth Air Force.
ReplyDeleteWould it have been too much to ask to have a preliminary high altitude run over the AA and the train?
ReplyDeleteThe men went in thinking they would shorten the war.
ReplyDelete"So that others might live."
That mission was a mess from the start.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.historynet.com/operation-tidal-wave/
The father of. friend was on that raid, and many others. The colonel is 102 and still alive and well.
ReplyDeleteA late uncle of mine was a navigator on the Ploesti raid. He never talked about it, beyond acknowledging that he was there. He was the only survivor of his bomber when they were hit while on the ground, later in the war. He was outboard of one of the engines and so was not killed when a bomb hit his aircraft. He permanently injured both hands trying to get the other members of the crew out. Charles Adams was one of many great men who flew in B-24s in the European Theater.
ReplyDeleteFor an unremembered reason, they used the B-24 bomber for Ploesti raids. Range, maybe. Generally viewed as a 2nd class plane compared to the B-17. Poor handling, with a lower bombing altitude. Ford built most of them, IIRC.
ReplyDeleteThe Germans moved a lot of heavy hitters in the fighter world to oppose these B-24's. Erich Hartmann was transferred from the Russian front to help bolster the Ploesti defense for a while. He knocked down a handful of P-51 Mustangs, and so pissed off the survivors that they abandoned the bomber defense and chased him for long enough to run him out of fuel. Not a problem, he bailed out or crashed at least 16 of his ME-109 fighters in the course of the war. Not sure if the American pilots realized just who they had tangled with. He didn't always fly with all his identifying markings on his plane, and he might have been flying a loaner due to the temporary transfer.
The famed Norden bombsight was so inaccurate that anything within a quarter mile was declared a direct hit. The allies didn't learn a thing about strategic bombing until they stopped 'daylight precision bombing' and instead lined themselves up over the highways and railroad and dropping the bombs there.
ReplyDelete