General Mark A. Welsh III, the USAF Chief of Staff, released CSAF's annual reading list last week, which also includes film and art works. Here's one such work, as captioned on the Reading List web site:
The Ploesti raid of 1 August, 1943 is one of the most storied events in USAF history. Further to the painting above, this:
 |
| Hell’s Wench, a B-24 badly damaged by anti-aircraft artillery fire, led the 93d Bombardment Group (Heavy) in its daring low-level attack on the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, which supplied two-thirds of Germany’s petroleum production at that stage of World War II. Lt. Col. Addison E. Baker, an Ohio National Guardsman who commanded the 93rd, refused to break up the lead formation by landing, and led his group to the target upon which he dropped his bombs with devastating effect. |
The Ploesti raid of 1 August, 1943 is one of the most storied events in USAF history. Further to the painting above, this:
Lt. Col. Baker and his co-pilot Maj. John L. Jerstad, who had already flown a full tour of duty while stationed in England, would now bear witness to the extensive air defense array prepared for them by Gen. Gerstenberg. Continuing through the withering maelstrom, the damage to Hell's Wench forced Baker and Jerstad to lose their bomb load in order to maintain lead of the formation over their target at the Columbia Aquila refinery. Despite heavy losses by the 93rd, Baker and Jerstad maintained course and, once clear, began to climb away. Realizing the aircraft was a loss, both men maintained the climb in order to permit the crew to abandon the aircraft. Although none survived, both Baker and Jerstad would be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for maintaining their successful approach to Columbia Aquila and their efforts to save the crew of Hell's Wench.You can read more about the Ploesti raids here.
Some good stuff from the CSAF. I am pleasantly surprised.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I hear ya. I think the inclusion of several TED Talks is a great good thing.
DeleteThat raid was a disaster, and a waste of good men and machines. Plus, they flew at the perfect AAA altitude. Half the crews dropped like ducks in a marsh before they even made the target. Many dropped their bombs early and landed in Turkey, where they were interred and out of the war. Basically they did what Captain Yossarian failed to do :-)
ReplyDeleteI just read on Wiki that the general who planned that mission was also the general who lost all the planes in the Philippines when the Jap's attacked. He sure got a lot of medals, so I guess there is points for trying.
DeleteYou're mostly right about the military value of the mission but ya gotta give the aircrews a salute for their heroism.
DeleteI read where they originally wanted to launch out of Syria, which would have been better. I think Ukraine would have been even better. On such a long mission the crews are beat-up even before the battle. It would have only taken a few months to stock any airfield. I'm sure they had to limit the bomb load to carry the amount of fuel required.
DeleteYep, you gotta have balls to strap-on a B-24 and fly into the best German air defense sector in the war. I would make sure I had as much insurance policy as I could get, so ma and pa or the spouse would be set-up good after I got zapped.