DARING OIL RAIDS

Air Classics, Dec 2004 by Hulett, George

Excellent new book captures one the USAAF's most famous attacks

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"If it is granted that the successful destruction of the target would warrant the possible expenditure of the entire force..." So wrote Maj. Gen. Lewis Brereton, the US 9th Air Force commander in the Middle East, as the planners contemplated the options of a high- or low-level attack on the oil refineries at Ploesti in Rumania. If this source of 40 percent of Germany's oil could be eliminated, it would deal a vital body-blow to the Third Reich's ability to wage war, and a surprise attack by Consolidated B-24 Liberators flying at tree-top height was considered the best method of achieving success.

The Ploesti Raid - Through The Lens by Roger A. Freeman (RZM Imports, POB 995, Southbury, CT 06488, phone 800-562-7308, $39.95) examines how three bomb groups from the 8th Air Force based in Britain flew out to join two groups of the 9th already in North Africa - the combined force of 179 aircraft destined to carry out the first massed low-level heavy bomber mission in history.

The Pioesti Raid took place on Sunday 1 August 1943 and, but for a navigational error which put the leading formation on a course away from the target, the operation might have resulted in the destruction of the seven chosen targets. However, by the time the mistake was realized, the defenses were on the alert and over 20 Liberators were brought down in and around Ploesti. A further 35 aircraft were lost.

Although the operation resulted in the award of five Medals of Honor, the cost was high: 308 airmen lost their lives and 208 were taken prisoner or interned. Out of the 1753 who are known to have set out on the mission, a total of 516 failed to return. This well-produced hard-bound volume contains over 300 illustrations ...