Can anybody please tell me if the bombers that raided Ploesti were B-24D’s only or were there B-24J’s also?
Thanks, Andy
Hi Chudy, which raid did you have in mind? What little information I was able to find shows the first raid on Ploesti was on June 2, 1942 (thirteen B-24s flew the mission, but only four returned). The second raid was in the summer of '43 (fifty four B-24s lost out of 163). These were from the 8th Air Force. In May 1944 attacks against Ploesti, as well as other oil production centers, were ramped up due to slackening Luftwaffe protection. By August 1944, Ploesti was captured by the Russians. Unfortunately no information was provided about which model B-24 was used in each attack. This was according to the book Flying Fortress by Edward Jablonski. I hope this points you in the right direction.
Hi Chudy:
Log of the Liberators by Steve Birdsell is a good reference book. It was published by Doubleday in 1973. It has several photos of the B-24 raids on Polesti. All of them show B-24Ds.
In the books I have, and everything else I have read, all the picks show B-24D’s. No turrets appear on the noses of any of the Liberators. Hope that helps.
The 1 Aug 43 mission was comprised of B-24Ds. Follow this link for a list:
With respect to that table, what does EVD mean?
I think that EVD refers to the crew member evading capture.
You will find that the Ploesti Raid of 1 Aug 1943 was not conducted by the 8th Air Force, but rather the 9th Bomber Command. It consisted (in the summer of 1943) of the 376th BG (origionally known as the Halpro Project) and the 98th BG. Three BGs of the 8th AF (44th, 93rd and the 389th) were transfered to the 9th Bomber Command during the middle of the summer or 43 to build up the bomber forces for the Ploesti operation. After the raid the three BGs were transferred back to the 8th AF, while the origional pair remained with the 9th Bomber Command which became the 15th AF in November of that year.
And the 1 Aug 1943 low level raid was performed by B-24Ds, with the H model making its appearance after the 15th AF was formed.