One hundred seventy-eight B-24 Liberators took off from Libya on August 1, 1943, headed for Ploesti, Romania — nine oil refineries producing a third of all fuel for Hitler's war machine. The plan was to fly twelve hundred miles and bomb them at treetop level. Two hundred feet off the ground.
Lieutenant Colonel Addison Baker, thirty-six, led the ninety-third Bomb Group in a Liberator called Hell's Wench. His copilot, Major John Jerstad, twenty-five, had already finished his combat tour. He could have gone home. Instead, he volunteered for a seat in the lead aircraft.
When the lead formation turned the wrong way toward Bucharest, Baker broke formation and pointed his group at Ploesti alone. Then his aircraft caught fire — with a safe field right below him and thirty-six bombers following his lead.
He had three minutes to decide.
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Lieutenant Colonel Addison Baker, thirty-six, led the ninety-third Bomb Group in a Liberator called Hell's Wench. His copilot, Major John Jerstad, twenty-five, had already finished his combat tour. He could have gone home. Instead, he volunteered for a seat in the lead aircraft.
When the lead formation turned the wrong way toward Bucharest, Baker broke formation and pointed his group at Ploesti alone. Then his aircraft caught fire — with a safe field right below him and thirty-six bombers following his lead.
He had three minutes to decide.
🔔 Subscribe for more untold WW2 stories: https://www.youtube.com/@WWII-Records
👍 Like this video if you learned something new
💬 If your war was already over — would you volunteer to go back? Drop your answer below.
#worldwar2 #ww2history #ww2 #wwii #ww2records
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LearningTranscript
00:140647 August 1st 1943 Lieutenant Colonel Addison Baker climbed into B-24 liberator
00:21Hell's Winch near Benghazi Libya as 178 bombers prepared for the lowest bombing
00:27raid in history 36 years old 14 years in the cockpit commander of the 93rd bomb group the
00:35target Ploesti Romania nine oil refineries producing one-third of all fuel feeding Hitler's
00:42war machine ringed by the heaviest anti-aircraft defenses in Europe outside Berlin Ploesti was
00:48no ordinary target in June of 1942 13 B-24s had attacked the refineries from high altitude they
00:55caused almost no damage but the raid had a devastating consequence it told the Germans
01:01exactly what the Allies wanted to destroy in the 12 months since General Alfred Gerstenberg the
01:07Luftwaffe commander in Romania had transformed Ploesti into a fortress over 200 anti-aircraft
01:13guns now surrounded the refineries barrage balloons floated above the smokestacks on steel cables thick
01:19enough to slice a wing machine guns hit inside haystacks railroad cars and fake buildings nearly 300
01:26fighters waited on surrounding airfields any high altitude raid would face a wall of flak and
01:32interceptors so the Allied planners chose a different approach 178 B-24 liberators would
01:39fly 1200 miles from Libya cross the Mediterranean pass over occupied Greece and the mountains of
01:44Yugoslavia and attack Ploesti at treetop level 200 feet off the ground below radar below the heavy flak
01:52batteries calibrated for high-altitude bombers but at 200 feet the B-24s would fly directly into the kill
01:58zone of every rifle machine gun and 20 millimeter cannon in Romania the B-24 liberator was never designed
02:06for this it was a high-altitude heavy bomber built to fly at 25,000 feet at 200 feet it
02:13became a four engine
02:14target the size of a barn moving at 200 miles per hour with 45 hundred gallons of aviation fuel in
02:22its
02:22tanks one trace around in the right place would turn a liberator into a fireball the crews had spent
02:29weeks training low-level approaches in the Libyan desert flying over a full-scale replica of the
02:35Ploesti refineries built from tent poles and oil drums sitting in the co-pilot seat of Hell's Wench was
02:42Major John Gerstad 25 years old a former school teacher from Racine Wisconsin he had already flown more than
02:50his required 25 combat missions with the 93rd bomb group his tour was finished he had earned the distinguished
02:57flying cross a silver star and a ticket home his war was over nobody would have questioned him for leaving
03:04Gerstad did not leave when he learned that his old bomb group was planning a low level attack on the
03:11most defended
03:12target in Europe he volunteered he signed on as operations officer to help plan the mission then he
03:19climbed into the co-pilot seat of the lead aircraft the first bomber in formation the one that every
03:26anti-aircraft battery would target first mission planners estimated 30 percent losses at least 50
03:33aircraft would not return 500 men would be killed or captured the roundtrip covered 2400 miles 18 hours
03:42of flight time most of it over access occupied territory all of it without fighter escort 1750 men crammed into
03:51178 bombers knew the arithmetic one in three would not make it back to Benghazi Baker and Gerstad are about
04:00to
04:00fly a burning bomber into the most defended target in Europe hit like if you want to see what happens
04:06every like helps this story reach more people subscribe if you haven't now back to the desert at 07 13
04:14178 b24
04:17liberators lifted off from five airstrips in the Libyan desert the dust was so thick that trailing pilots flew
04:23on instruments for the first three minutes Baker's hell's winch led the 93rd bomb group as the second
04:29of five formations in the strike column 1200 miles of open sea enemy fighters and mountain passes lay
04:37between them and nine oil refineries that fueled a third of the German war machine somewhere over the
04:43Mediterranean the aircraft carrying the missions lead navigator would vanish into the sea an operation
04:50tidal wave would start to come apart the strike force climbed to low altitude and formed up over
04:57the Libyan coast five bomb groups arranged in a loose column stretching miles across the sky the 376th
05:05bomb group led carrying the mission commander Brigadier General Uzal Ent and the lead navigator for the
05:11entire formation behind them flew Baker's 93rd then the 98th the 44th and the 389th
05:18radio silence was absolute from the moment the wheels left the sand until the bombs hit Ploeste not
05:26a single aircraft could transmit the Germans monitored Allied frequencies one intercepted
05:32transmission could alert Gerstenberg's fighters hours before the bombers arrived every pilot understood the
05:37rule every crew accepted it but radio silence meant that if anything went wrong there was no way to
05:44warn the rest of the formation something went wrong almost immediately 90 minutes into the flight as the
05:51formation crossed the Mediterranean south of Corfu a b-24 from the 376th suddenly pitched forward and
05:58dove into the sea it hit the water at over 200 miles per hour and disintegrated 10 men vanished in
06:05seconds trailing crews watched the impact point pass beneath them white foam fuel slick nothing else no
06:14survivors the aircraft carry lieutenant Brian Flavelle one of the missions most experienced
06:19navigators the cause of the crash was never confirmed some accounts attributed it to mechanical
06:25failure others to a faulty autopilot that pitched the nose down while the crew rested what mattered to the
06:32177 remaining bombers was the consequence Flavelle's navigator had been responsible for coordinating
06:38the final approach to the target his charts his calculations his timing gone to the bottom of the
06:46Mediterranean Baker flying hell's winch in the second formation had no way to know the full impact he
06:53could see the gap in the lead group ahead he could count the aircraft one missing but under radio silence
06:59he could not
07:00ask what happened who was lost or whether the primary navigation plan was still intact the formation
07:06pressed north they crossed the Greek coastline and climbed to clear the Pindus mountains cloud banks forced
07:12the groups apart pilots strained to maintain visual contact with the aircraft ahead while avoiding mountain
07:18ridges hidden in the overcast the tight column that had left Libya began to stretch gaps appeared between
07:24groups the 98th bomb group third in line fell behind first by minutes then by miles the five group strike
07:32force was splitting into two separate waves Baker held hell's winch steady at the front of the 93rd 37
07:39liberators followed his aircraft using his position as their reference point the formation's nickname was
07:45Ted's traveling circus name for the group's previous commander they had flown combat missions across North
07:51Africa Sicily and Norway baker had led them since may he knew his pilots they knew his flying in the
07:58dust
07:58and confusion of the libyan takeoff in the clouds over greece in the widening gaps between groups the 93rd held
08:05formation behind hell's wench gerstad sat in the right seat monitoring instruments cross-checking fuel
08:11consumption every gallon mattered the b-24 burned roughly 200 gallons per hour on four engines the round trip
08:19pushed the aircraft near its maximum range any deviation headwinds detours extra climbing ate into the fuel
08:26reserves that would bring them home or not they cleared the mountains and descended over yugoslavia
08:31the scattered cloud cover broke the formation crossed into romanian airspace south of the danube
08:37flat farmlands stretched to the horizon the five groups were supposed to converge here reform the strike
08:43column and prepare for the final approach to plouesti but the 98th and 44th were still miles behind
08:50at 1200 hours the lead formation reached a small town in the romanian plain general ent and colonel
08:57keith compton piloting the lead aircraft of the 376th checked their maps they identified the town as
09:04floresti the final turning point where the strike force was supposed to swing southeast toward plouesti
09:10compton banked left and turned the entire lead formation toward what he believed was the target
09:17baker trailing in hell's wench watched the lead group turn and he knew immediately that something
09:23was wrong the town below was not floresti it was targovista and compton was leading the first wave
09:30not toward plouesti but straight toward bucharest baker tried to warn the lead group under radio silence
09:39he had no way to transmit a correction some accounts indicate that baker and other pilots attempted
09:45radio calls despite the silence order but compton either did not receive them or did not respond
09:51the lead formation continued its turn toward bucharest 36 bombers heading the wrong direction
09:57carrying the mission commander and the ranking general officer of the strike force baker had seconds to
10:03decide follow compton toward bucharest and keep the strike force together or break formation turn his 37
10:10liberators north and attack ployesti without the lead group he broke formation baker banked hell's
10:17wench hard to the left and swung the 93rd bomb group 90 degrees north toward the smokestacks of ployesti
10:23he could see them on the horizon columns of vapor rising from the refineries the target was there the plan
10:31was
10:31falling apart but the target had not moved behind baker 36 pilots of the 93rd followed hell's wench out of
10:39the strike column
10:40one aircraft had turned back earlier with mechanical trouble the rest held formation they were now flying
10:47toward the most heavily defended oil complex in europe without the lead group without the mission commander
10:53and from a direction they had not rehearsed the original plan called for the five bomb groups to attack nine
10:59refineries from the northwest approaching in sequence so each group could bomb its assigned target
11:05without interference from smoke debris or other aircraft baker's decision to break formation meant
11:12the 93rd would arrive at ployesti from the southwest a different angle than briefed different approach
11:18different landmarks different gun positions than the ones they had memorized every advantage of the
11:24rehearsals in the libyan desert was gone and the element of surprise was gone with it compton's
11:29wrong turn had taken the lead formation directly over romanian observation posts south of ployesti
11:35gerstenberg's defense network was already alerting every anti-aircraft battery around the refineries
11:42gunners who had been scanning the skies were now tracking specific formations fighter squadrons were
11:47scrambling the barrage balloon operators were raising their cables to 300 feet exactly the altitude at
11:54which the bombers would approach baker knew none of these details what he knew was simpler his group was
12:00heading toward ployesti at 200 miles per hour 200 feet off the ground the bombers behind him were counting
12:07on hell's winch to lead them to the target gerstad sat beside him both pilots gripping the controls watching
12:14the flat romanian farmland blur past beneath them at treetop level at this altitude there was no room
12:20for error a momentary loss of concentration a slight bank in the wrong direction and the bomber would
12:26cartwheel across a wheat field the smokestacks of ployesti grew larger on the horizon baker could see the
12:33outlines of the refineries storage tanks cracking towers pipe networks the columbia aquila refinery designated
12:40white 5 was directly ahead it had originally been assigned to a different group but baker's approach
12:47from the southwest put columbia aquila in his path he aimed hell's winch at the target and descended to
12:53attack altitude the first black puffs of anti-aircraft fire appeared ahead of the formation then the tracer
13:00started streams of 20 millimeter rounds arcing up from hidden positions in the fields surrounding the
13:06refineries the 93rd bomb group was three minutes from the target baker was leading them in and the
13:13entire defense network of ployesti was awake armed and waiting the anti-aircraft fire hit the formation
13:21before the refineries were even visible through the haze light guns opened first 20 millimeter cannons
13:28concealed in haystacks and rooftops along the approach route at 200 feet the b-24s were close enough for
13:34the gunners to see the rivets on the fuselage tracer rounds climbed in flat arcs and punched through
13:40aluminum skin the heavy flak batteries calibrated for high altitude targets could not depress low enough
13:47to track the bombers but the light weapons machine guns auto cannons rifles did not need calibration
13:55at this altitude they simply pointed and fired the three lead aircraft of the 93rd took the worst of it
14:03they were the first bombers the gun crews could see baker's hell's winch flew at the tip of the formation
14:09behind him the rest of the group fanned out into attack formation each aircraft searching for its
14:15assigned target through the thickening smoke three miles from the columbia aquila refinery a large caliber
14:21anti-aircraft shell struck hell's winch the impact tore through the fuselage and ruptured fuel lines
14:27aviation gasoline 100 octane volatile enough to explode on contact with the spark sprayed across
14:35the interior of the aircraft within seconds fire broke out in the bomb bay flames spread through the
14:41fuselage fed by the fuel reserves in the wing tanks baker and gersted felt the hit the aircraft shuttered
14:49warning indicators across the instrument panel lit up through the cockpit windows both pilots could see
14:55flames streaming from the fuselage behind them the fire was spreading toward the wings if it reached
15:00the main fuel tanks hell's winch would explode in midair directly below the burning bomber was open
15:07farmland flat clear and long enough for an emergency landing baker was flying at 200 feet he could have
15:15pushed the nose down cut the throttles and put the liberator on its belly in a romanian wheat field
15:20at that speed and altitude a crash landing on flat ground was survivable the crew could have evacuated
15:27they would have been captured by romanian forces spent the rest of the war in a prison camp and come
15:32home alive baker did not land he kept hell's wench on course the columbia aquila refinery was three minutes
15:39ahead 36 liberators of the 93rd bomb group were flying behind him in attack formation using his aircraft as
15:46their guide to the target if baker turned away to save his crew the lead aircraft would be gone the
15:52formation would lose its reference point at the worst possible moment three minutes from bomb release
15:57at treetop level under heavy fire approaching from an unrehearsed direction the attack could disintegrate
16:03baker held course gersted held course beside him the two pilots gripped the controls of a 65 000 pound bomber
16:11that was burning from the inside out and flew it straight toward the largest oil refinery in their
16:16path the fire inside hell's wench intensified smoke filled the fuselage the crew in the rear of the
16:22aircraft could feel the heat through the airframe the bomb bay doors were open and flames licked around
16:28the ordinance hanging in the racks 500 pound bombs with delayed fuses designed to detonate minutes after
16:34impact so the bombers could clear the blast zone if the fire reached the bombs before baker could release them
16:40hell's wench would cease to exist behind baker the other aircraft of the 93rd were taking hits
16:46flak bursts walked across the formation bombers trailed smoke one liberator lost an engine and fell behind
16:53another took a direct hit in the wing root and rolled inverted at 150 feet there was no recovery from
16:59that
16:59altitude it hit the ground in a ball of fire and slid across a farm field ten men gone in
17:05two seconds
17:06the columbia aquila refinery filled the windscreen of hell's wench storage tanks cracking towers smoke
17:13stacks pipe networks running between buildings baker could see the refinery in detail now close enough to
17:19read the writing on the storage tanks flames were visible inside his own cockpit smoke obscured the
17:25instruments the heat was becoming unbearable somewhere behind him his crew was preparing to die or preparing
17:32to jump but at 200 feet a parachute would not open in time baker pointed the burning nose of hell's
17:39winch at columbia aquila and held his course the bomb release point was seconds away baker released the
17:46bombs hell's went shuttered as 500 pound ordinance dropped from the burning bomb bay and fell toward
17:52the columbia aquila refinery at 200 feet the bombs needed barely two seconds to reach the ground the
17:58delayed fuses started their countdown baker did he did not need to see the impact the moment the bomb
18:04racks were empty he pulled the control column back and pointed the nose of hell's wench upward he was
18:09not trying to escape at this point baker knew the aircraft was lost the fire had consumed too much of
18:16the fuselage the controls were sluggish hydraulic lines were burning through what baker was trying to
18:21do was climb gain enough altitude for his eight crewmen in the rear of the aircraft to jump a parachute
18:28needed a minimum of 300 feet to open baker had been flying at 200 he needed 100 more feet of
18:36altitude
18:36from an aircraft that was burning itself apart gersted helped him pull both pilots hauled back on the
18:43control columns forcing the crippled liberator into a climb the four pratt and whitney engines still running
18:49on fuel that had not yet caught fire dragged the bomber upward 250 feet 270 the nose pitched higher
18:57the airspeed bled off a b-24 liberator needed a minimum of 120 miles per hour to maintain controlled
19:05flight below that speed the wing stopped generating enough lift and the aircraft would stall pitch forward
19:11uncontrollably and drop from the sky hell's wench reached approximately 300 feet at that altitude
19:18three or four crewmen jumped witnesses in trailing bombers saw their bodies fall from the burning aircraft
19:25the men were already on fire flames trailed behind them in the wind as they fell
19:30at 300 feet with their flight suits burning there was almost no chance of survival none of the men who
19:36jumped
19:36were recovered alive baker and gersted stayed at the controls they could not leave someone had to hold the dying
19:42aircraft
19:42steady while the crew attempted to bail out every second they kept the nose up was another second for
19:49a crewman to reach the escape hatch but the physics were merciless the climb had bled the airspeed below
19:55stalling point hell's wench trailing fire along its entire length shuttered once the left wing dropped the
20:03bomber rolled over its right wing and pitched toward the ground the aircraft fell 300 feet in less than three
20:10seconds it narrowly missed a b-24 in the second element of the 93rd clearing the other bomber by six
20:17feet
20:17then hell's wench hit the ground the impact detonated the remaining fuel in the wing tanks
20:23the explosion was visible to pilots a mile behind the formation lieutenant colonel addison baker was killed
20:29on impact major john gerstad was killed beside him all 10 men aboard hell's wench died on august 1st
20:371943 within sight of the columbia aquila refinery baker was 36 jerstad was 25 jerstad had not needed to
20:47be there his war had been over he had chosen this seat this aircraft this mission but the 93rd bomb
20:54group was still flying baker's decision to hold course in a burning aircraft had kept the formation
20:59together long enough for the group to reach the target behind hell's wench 31 remaining liberators of the
21:0693rd swept over the plowesti refineries and released their bombs explosions rippled through the columbia
21:13aquila complex storage tanks erupted cracking towers collapsed in sheets of flame black smoke billowed
21:20thousands of feet into the air so thick that trailing aircraft flew through it blind 11 b-24s of the
21:2893rd
21:28were shot down over the target more than a hundred men from baker's group were killed or captured within minutes
21:35of his death the refinery burned the bombers that survived the target area pulled up gained altitude
21:41and turned south toward libya behind them plowesti was a wall of flame and smoke but the raid was not
21:49over
21:49the 93rd and the 376th had already passed through now the 98th and 44th bomb groups the ones that had
21:57fallen behind over yugoslavia were approaching from the northwest on the original heading they were about
22:03to fly into a target that was already burning defended by gunners who were already firing and
22:09crowded with bombers coming from the opposite direction the 98th bomb group arrived over plowesti
22:16at 12 12 12 hours 20 minutes behind the 93rd colonel john kane led 39 liberators on the correct heading
22:23from floresti the approach the entire strike force had rehearsed but the scene ahead was unrecognizable
22:30the columbia aquila refinery was a wall of fire black smoke from baker's attack rose thousands of feet
22:37turning the target area into a canyon of flame and zero visibility through the smoke kane could see
22:44explosions still rippling across the refinery complex and somewhere in that inferno aircraft from the 93rd
22:51were still clearing the target kane did not turn away he took his 39 bombers directly into the smoke
22:58the 98th assigned target was the astro romana refinery a separate complex on the eastern edge of plowesti
23:05but the smoke and confusion made target identification nearly impossible at 200 feet kane held his formation
23:12together and pushed through anti-aircraft guns that had already been firing at the 93rd now had fresh
23:19targets gun crews who had been tracking bombers heading southwest suddenly faced new aircraft approaching
23:25from the northwest some batteries were firing in two directions simultaneously 14 b-24s of the 98th
23:33were shot down within minutes sand-colored liberators still wearing their desert camouflage from north
23:39africa tumbled out of the smoke and hit the ground around the refineries most burned on impact few crews
23:47survived right behind kane came the 44th bomb group under colonel leon johnson 16 liberators aimed at white
23:55five the same columbia aquila refinery that baker's 93rd had already bombed it was still burning johnson's
24:02pilots flew through flame and smoke so thick that several aircraft emerged with scorched paint at treetop
24:09level the heat from the burning refinery was strong enough to buffet the bombers in turbulence
24:15johnson's group dropped their ordnance on a target that was already destroyed and fought their way clear
24:21five of his 16 aircraft were shot down over the target on the northern edge of the complex major james
24:28posey led 21 aircraft from the 44th on a separate run against the creditor minier refinery south of ploweste
24:36his bombers carried heavier thousand pound bombs posey's approach took his formation through the same
24:42anti-aircraft corridor that had shredded the 93rd but he pressed through and hit his target he lost
24:49two aircraft the last group to attack was the 389th the least experienced of the five colonel jack wood
24:56led his formation to the stoya romana refinery at campina northwest of ploweste the 389th had separated
25:04from the main force as planned and followed its own route to an independent target
25:09their approach was closer to the original plan than any other group but the defenses at campina were
25:15waiting second lieutenant lloyd hughes flew his b-24 old kickapoo toward the campina refinery at 200 feet
25:23anti-aircraft fire hit his fuel tanks aviation gasoline streamed from the punctured wing leaving
25:29a visible trail of fuel behind the aircraft hughes was flying directly toward a refinery
25:35that was already on fire from preceding bombers the fuel streaming from his aircraft would ignite the
25:41moment it touched flame hughes held course his bombardier released the bombs on target then the
25:49fuel trail caught fire old kickapoo became a torch hughes attempted a crash landing in a riverbed beyond the
25:56refinery the aircraft broke apart on impact hughes and five of his crew were killed the remaining four were
26:04captured lloyd hughes was 21 years old he received the medal of honor posthumously the third of the
26:11mission alongside baker and gersted kane and johnson both survived the target area both had led their
26:18formations into a burning smoke-filled flack saturated hellscape without deviating from their
26:24assigned targets both received the medal of honor the only two awarded to living recipients that day
26:30five medals of honor for a single mission it had never happened before in american military history
26:37it has never happened since the surviving bombers turned south damaged burning leaking fuel missing
26:45engines carrying dead and wounded crew the return trip to benghazi was 1200 miles across enemy territory
26:53romanian and bulgarian fighters were already in the air hunting stragglers and most of the surviving b-24s
27:00were flying on less than half their fuel the surviving b-24s straggled south in ones and twos
27:07the tight formations that had crossed the mediterranean that morning no longer existed
27:12bombers flew alone or in groups of three or four trailing smoke missing chunks of wing and tail engines
27:18feathered or burning some aircraft had dead men still at their gun positions others carried wounded crewmen
27:25lying on the floor of the fuselage bleeding onto spent shell casings romanian fighters found them over
27:30the plains south of ploești messerschmidt 109s and romanian iar ads dove on the damaged bombers from above
27:38at low altitude the b-24 was slow and unmaneuverable lumbering across the romanian countryside at 5 000 feet
27:45with half its guns jammed or unmanned gunners who were still alive and unwounded fired back
27:52some liberators took additional hits and went down over romania others crashed in bulgarian territory as
27:58they crossed the border three messerschmidt 109s from carlovo bulgaria intercepted a group of stragglers
28:05ten more bulgarian fighters older avia b-534 biplanes joined the attack the bulgarian pilots scored
28:12their first kills of the war against the crippled americans two b-24s went down over bulgaria
28:18over yugoslavia two liberators collided with each other while trying to evade fighters both crashed
28:25over the ionian sea five more b-24s were shot down by messerschmitts from jagdgeschwader 27.
28:32the fuel calculations that had been marginal at takeoff were now catastrophic aircraft that had
28:38deviated from the planned route climbed to avoid mountains or circled over the target had burned
28:43through their reserves pilots watched their fuel gauges dropped toward zero over the mediterranean
28:49some made it to allied airfields on cyprus others landed in what is now syria 23 b-24s diverted to
28:57emergency fields across the eastern mediterranean 78 crewmen landed in neutral turkey and were interned
29:04for the duration of the war one liberator limped back to libya with 365 bullet holes in its airframe
29:11its survival was attributed to the fact that most of the damage came from bulgarian biplanes
29:16armed with small caliber machine guns too light to bring down a four-engine bomber but heavy enough
29:22to riddle it with holes as the afternoon turned to evening ground crews at the five airstrips near
29:28benghazi counted the returning aircraft they had watched 178 bombers take off that morning
29:34now they counted the ones that came back the numbers came slowly aircraft straggled in over
29:41hours some landing after dark some landing on fumes some landing with dead pilots in the left seat
29:48while co-pilots brought the aircraft home 88 b-24s returned to libya 55 of them carried battle damage
29:5654 aircraft had been lost shot down over romania crashed in bulgaria ditched in the mediterranean
30:03or destroyed on forced landings across the eastern mediterranean 310 crewmen were confirmed killed or
30:11missing 108 were prisoners of war in romanian and german camps the total casualty count exceeded 500 men
30:19from a force of 1750 it was the highest loss rate of any major american air mission in the european
30:26theater
30:27the date august 1st 1943 became known as black sunday every surviving participant in operation
30:35tidal wave received the distinguished flying cross 56 men received the distinguished service cross the
30:42allies estimated that the raid destroyed 40 percent of ploueste's refining capacity but the damage was not
30:48permanent german and romanian repair crews worked around the clock within weeks several refineries were
30:56partially operational again within months ploueste was producing at near pre-raid levels the strategic
31:03objective crippling hitler's oil supply in a single blow had failed the sacrifice of 500 men had bought
31:10weeks not months the allies would return to bomb ploueste again and again through 1944 before the
31:17refineries were finally destroyed but the cost of august 1st was not measured in barrels of
31:22oil baker and gerstad had been listed as killed in action but their remains were not recovered from
31:27the wreckage of hell's wench the crash site near the columbia aquila refinery had been consumed by
31:33fire and explosions addison baker the man who had held a burning bomber on course to keep his formation
31:39together was officially missing his body had vanished into the ground of romania
31:46jerstad's medal of honor was awarded on october 28th 1943 less than three months after his death
31:53the citation praised his voluntary acceptance of a mission he was not required to fly and his refusal
31:59to land when a safe field was available baker's medal of honor took longer it was not awarded until march
32:0611th 1944 more than seven months after the raid according to military records higher ranking officers
32:15debated whether baker's decision to break formation and attack a target of opportunity rather than
32:20follow the mission commander disqualified him from the nation's highest award in the end the evidence
32:26was clear baker had led his group to the target he had held a burning aircraft on course so 36
32:34bombers
32:34behind him could complete their bomb runs he had then tried to climb to give his crew a chance to
32:40survive
32:41the medal of honor was awarded posthumously kane and johnson the two living recipients returned to
32:47the united states as decorated heroes kane continued to serve and eventually retired from the air force
32:54johnson rose to the rank of brigadier general lloyd hughes the 21 year old pilot of ol kickapoo who had
33:01flown a leaking bomber into a burning refinery received his medal of honor posthumously in february
33:071944 his family accepted it on his behalf five medals of honor for one mission three posthumous two
33:16living it remains the most medals of honor ever awarded for a single air action in american military
33:23history no mission before or since has matched it gerstad was buried at the arden american cemetery in
33:30belgium his grave was identified from remains recovered in romania after the war a school in his hometown of
33:37racine wisconsin gerstad agarholm elementary bears his name alongside another medal of honor recipient from
33:44the same city baker's fate was different his remains were never positively identified after the war
33:51the crash site of hell's wench near the columbia aquila refinery had been so thoroughly consumed by
33:57fire and subsequent explosions that recovery teams could not distinguish individual remains baker's name
34:03was inscribed on the tablets of the missing at the florence american cemetery in italy a wall listing
34:09the names of more than 1400 americans who disappeared in the war and were never found for nearly 80 years
34:16addison baker remained missing in 2017 the defense pow mia accounting agency began a project to identify
34:25the unknown remains associated with operation tidal wave more than 80 sets of unidentified remains
34:31believed to be from the plueschi raid had been buried as unknowns at american military cemeteries in
34:37belgium dpaa exhumed the graves and sent the remains to a laboratory at offutt air force base in nebraska
34:44using dna samples provided by baker's surviving relatives forensic anthropologists matched bone
34:50fragments from one of the unknown graves to the commander of the 93rd bomb group in 2022 79 years
34:57after hell's wench crashed into the fields near plueschi lieutenant colonel addison earl baker was
35:03identified well it's a story of service sacrifice love and determination that spans almost 80 years a bronze
35:12rosette was placed beside his name on the tablets of the missing in florence indicating that he had
35:17finally been accounted for his remains were transported to arlington national cemetery where he was laid to
35:23rest with full military honors baker was 36 when he died gerstad was 25 one had spent 14 years in
35:31the
35:31army air corps and risen to command a bomb group the other had been a school teacher who enlisted seven
35:37months before pearl harbor one had no choice but to lead the other had every reason to go home and
35:43chose not to together they held a burning b-24 on course for three minutes so that 36 bombers behind
35:50them could destroy hitler's oil supply those three minutes cost them everything if this story stayed
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36:23community alive if someone in your family served in the second world war tell us about them we read
36:29every single one thank you for being here addison baker lay in an unmarked grave until 2022 now you know
36:37his name that matters thank you for watching we will see you in the next one you
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