On Aug 1/1943, 178 B-24 Liberators of the 44th and 98th bomb groups flew a 2000 mile round trip raid from Libya North Africa to Ploesti Romania.
1/3 of Germany's petroleum was supplied by this facility.
The raid was hair-raising..the crews were very brave.
[Have film stock shot from inside one of the B-24's as they headed to Ploesti...you can see other B-24's getting hit and going down..with chatter via headset]
Of the 178 B-24's....52 were lost
All but 35 suffered damage.
One B-24 limped home 14hrs later with 365 holes in it.
