Ploesti B-24: Utah Man

THE LAST LIBERATOR TO RETURN FROM A JINXED MISSION

When Hitler took power in 1933, he was already aware that oil would be Germany's Achilles heel in any armed conflict. By 1943, extraordinary measures had been taken to overcome this weakness by producing synthetic oil, mostly from lignite mined in Czechoslovakia, and a little more than half of Germany's total oil production (8.9 million tons that year) came from synthetic sources. The lion's share of the rest, some 2.5 million tons annually, was supplied from Romania, notably by the oil wells and refineries of Ploesti. For the Allies, this made Ploesti a high-priority target, but as matters stood in 1943, Romania seemed impossibly remote: more than 1,200 miles across hostile territory from the UK and 1,000 miles from Allied bases in North Africa. At the time, only one bomber had the range to attempt such distances: the USAAF's B-24 Liberator.

In June 1942, a detachment of B-24s, originally en route to the Far East via Africa, was halted in Egypt and ordered to attack the Ploesti oil refinery complex. Given Ploesti's size and the fact that only 12 B-24s were committed, this could never have been more than a gesture, and its effects were even more limited by the clouds that covered the refineries during the raid. Ineffective though it was, it served to alert the Germans to the need to strengthen Ploesti's defenses. By the summer of 1943, a forest of guns surrounded the refineries: 20 batteries of 88mm and 150 clusters of 37mm and 20mm. Several fighter squadrons were based nearby, and barrage balloons added to the hazards of attempting an attack at low level.

The Allied directive that governed the Combined Bomber Offensive, derived from plans drawn up after the Casablanca conference, was issued on June 10, 1943, and code-named Point Blank. Among the primary objectives listed was oil. The USAAF lost no time in complying, and by the end of July, it was ready to launch a daylight raid against Ploesti (Operation Tidal Wave) using B-24s based in North Africa. Two groups from the resident 9th Air Force (98th and 376th) were joined by two deployed from the 8th in the UK (44th and 93rd) and a new group from the U.S. (389th) to strike the blow. To achieve maximum surprise and impact, the decision was made to fly the raid at extremely low level, and it was planned that waves of B-24s would go through the target area almost nose to tail, tracking in from the northwest to avoid the densest concentration of enemy defenses on the south side of Ploesti.

Until the day before the raid, the groups were not told the name of the target, but it soon became clear that dramatic changes would be made in the way the B-24s were flown. In the UK, the 44th and the 93rd were briefed only that they would soon be training to bomb from 50 feet and told to "pack for Africa." They took their B-24s to bases near Benghazi, Libya, and began low-level training against a mock-up of the Ploesti complex laid out in the desert. Accustomed to the relatively benign conditions at English bases, the crews did not enjoy living in tents; searing heat by day, chilling cold at night, sand in everything, gusty winds, no running water, bucket latrines and dysentery, Benghazi was memorable for all the wrong reasons. On the other hand, the flight training was exhilarating, even though the B-24 was not considered the ideal aircraft to fly at low level and in close proximity to others. With a 110-foot span and weighing 60,000 pounds, it was often described as looking and flying like a truck. One pilot later said: "To fly formation for several hours in a B-24 required endurance. The controls took so much strength to move that you didn't have to worry about getting to sleep after a long mission." The demands of the forthcoming mission were made obvious when the B-24s of all five groups had extra tanks fitted in the bomb bays, which reduced the bomb load and brought the total fuel on each aircraft to 3,100 gallons, enough for more than 12 hours in the air.

The B-24 crews were drawn from many facets of American society and came from all over the U.S. The one thing most of them had in common was that they were young-many of them hardly more than schoolboys. The average age of the aircrew was not much more than 20, and a third of them were still in their teens. At 39, Col. Leon Johnson, commanding the 44th BG, was one of the oldest on the raid, a generation ahead of his men. Maj. Ramsay Potts was a squadron commander at only 26, and 22-year-old Lt. Walter Stewart was already an experienced aircraft captain and battle-hardened in bombing missions launched against Germany from the 93rd's base at Hardwick in the UK. They all flew B-24s that were adorned with nose art that helped to give each machine its individual character. Ramsay Potts flew The Duchess, and Walter Stewart was in Utah Man.

On July 31, 1943, the Tidal Wave crews were given their final briefings. They were told that the attack would be on Ploesti and was of vital importance; coming back from it was a secondary consideration. Lt. Col. Addison Baker, commander of the 93rd BG, left his crews in no doubt what was expected of them: "If we don't hit that target tomorrow, we'll have to go back.... I'm going over the target, if I go over in flames." He then looked at Walter Stewart and added: "You, Lt. Stewart, are my deputy lead. If I don't take us over that target, you take us over." The next morning, 178 B-24s had their engines started and moved out, led by the bombers of the 376th BG. Following them came the 93rd, and then the 98th, 44th and 389th in turn.