Quickie note: I was invited to give a version of my TIDAL WAVE/Ploesti 1 August 1943 presentation on the CAF (Commemorative Air Force–formerly Confederate Air Force) podcast on 3 August 2022. The Youtube and Facebook links that will allow you to watch the recordings are below.
The title is “Dragged Through The Mouth of Hell – Correcting The Record on Ploesti, 1 August 1943.” ...
Here’s the latest of my infrequent progress updates on my TIDAL WAVE book/documentary project.
The good news is that the “technical” research into who, what, when, where, and why is almost finished. It should have been wrapped up nearly a year ago, but the virus panic shut down all archives in Germany, Romania, the UK, and the US. In fact, as of today the US National Archives are still shut down with no reopening date available. The European archives are slowly reopening, and thank goodness I don’t have many subjects left to research. ...
Today marks the 77th anniversary of the TIDAL WAVE mission.
It has been an eventful year for all of us, and as usual I’m way late in posting an update on my TIDAL WAVE book and documentary progress. ...
As you know, I’ve recently released scale model airplane model markings decal sets for 1/48 & 1/72 scale B-24D models. B-24D Hadley’s Harem is included in both scales. Since the decal sets were printed, a major change (which does not affect the actual decal markings) has been revealed. Although I will not update the decal set instructions already shipped, future sets will include the following changes:
“LATE BREAKING NEWS! ...
28 Airplanes!!!!
...
1/72 TIDAL WAVE B-24D Decal Sets Coming Soon!
PYN-up Decals is proud to announce the upcoming release of our 1/72 TIDAL WAVE B-24D decal sets. The two nose art sets together cover 28 Liberators that attacked the oil refineries at Ploesti, Campina, and Brazi, Romania, on 1 August 1943. One-third of the B-24s were lost on this mission—and the 98th Bomb Group lost one-half of its crews and planes. An additional double-sheet set covers the standard markings for all B-24s, not just TIDAL WAVE. ...
My three projects are:
I’ll start with the book, since that’s the most expansive project, and of course the documentary script will be based on the book. I’d originally intended to produce only a documentary, but I’ve uncovered so much new and detailed material that a documentary alone cannot possibly do the subject justice–which is not to suggest the documentary is abandoned or that it will fail to show some things that are better illustrated in film than on the flat, printed page.
Previous updates here have covered some of the breakthroughs I’ve already seen, and in every case I’ve made even more progress since those first reports. However, some new and really interesting stuff has recently come to life.
FORMATION LEAD. The leader position for the TW formation was finally bestowed on the 376th Bomb Group, but prior to that decision there was a most interesting and shocking counter-suggestion that proceeded much farther than you’d expect. I’m currently working to document this as fully as possible, but have already made quite good progress.
AXIS DEFENSES. I’ve previously uncovered the exact Flak order of battle and battery dispositions for 1 Aug 43, as well as the German & Romanian fighter OOB and most of their activity that day.
However, to both the defenders and attackers the Flak and fighters were not the only defenses of importance. German passive defenses (Luftschutz) were also a major concern. I was surprised how worried the TW planners were about artificial smoke and barrage balloons. I now have the full story on these from original German sources.
One other passive defense activity I’d not adequately considered before was firefighting (Feuerschutzpolizei), which had the potential of dramatically reducing the effect of the bombing if the firefighting efforts were effective. I now have the full German firefighting story from contemporary German sources, and am working to complete the story of the Romanian firefighters. The way the firefighters were controlled and the challenges they faces make compelling reading.
I also now have the full German bomb disposal (Sprengkommando)story for Ploesti, including their bomb disposal manual (which was an extremely lucky and unexpected find). The bomb disposal manual revealed secret that was completely unknown to the Allies at that time.
Finally, and of less importance to the TIDAL WAVE story (although it played a major part earlier in the war) is the dummy oil refinery, which was constructed, maintained, and operated by the Luftwaffe Passive Defense forces (Luftschutz). While it’s true the 376th overflew this installation during their wide circle around the city far outside the Flak defenses, it was actually only effective at night. Nonetheless, Allied intelligence and photo interpreters were very interested in the 376th’s photos of this layout.
All the above are essentially ” technical” issues. If you’ve followed the course of this project you’ll know that I’m extremely interested in the political and military contexts within which this operation was conceived, planned, and executed. This is more than just a “back story;” it formed the framework and guidance within which everything happened.
For example, political concerns affected at both the politicians and most senior officers. This operation occurred at a time of great flux in the Allied camp, and two of the most senior officers directly involved were in very deep trouble even before the attack date–and they were well aware of the trouble they were in.
Allied grand strategy also played a paramount role, but possibly not in ways you might expect. Deep divisions between the British civilian and military leadership on the one hand and the American civilian and military leadership on the other was a strand that ran through the entire operation from origin to execution–and even to the 1944 massive “oil campaign” bombing attacks on Romania.
Delving into German and Romanian defensive activities archives revealed a huge error made by the economic and technical advisors to the TW planners. If one relatively small change had been made the damage would have significantly increased and the economic and practical military impacts would have been instantly and massively magnified. The advisors got it wrong, so the planners did the best they could with the information and advice provided to them.
I’m making progress on finding deeper information on the leading personalities involved in the operation. The hardest nut to crack, without doubt, has been Luftwaffe Generalmajor Alfred Gerstenberg, the commander of the Deutsche Luftwaffenmission in Rumänien, and the man in overall control of all defenses of the Romanian oil district (which included far more area than just Ploesti city itself). There’s a reason why he’s so hard to pin down, but I’m chipping away at the problem and have uncovered useful additional material.
Next is status of my film documentary. All of the above notes apply; obviously the film script will be based on the book’s contents. I’ve already updated you on the original film footage I’ve located and had copied in high-def digital format, and I’m looking for a bit more to round out the necessary visual information. I’ve noted earlier the motion graphics that help tell complicated parts of the story, so that material is ready to go as well.
Finally comes the status of my series of brand-new PYN-ups Decals and Cutting Edge decal sets on the street.
So far we’ve completed the artwork for 21 specific aircraft and have 11 more to go before the project is finished. I selected the specific subjects based on you modelers’ voting in the survey I ran last year. I’ll be honest: I’ve added a couple of subjects you may never have heard of before, but are historically VERY important. When you see my TIDAL WAVE book and documentary you’ll understand why I’ve included them. Their stories are truly amazing.
Most of these subject have extremely cool nose art, in many cases based on clear photos you’ve probably never seen. I’m also including all the formation leaders’ ships as well as the others that garnered the most votes in the survey.
The research and artwork quality and accuracy behind these sets is exactly what you’ve come to expect from PYN-ups and Cutting Edge, and there are a number of significant corrections to what you may have been told about some of these subjects. A few of these subjects have been portrayed in published profiles and decal sheets in the past, but you’ll see some important differences in ours, based on photos of the real things. As usual we’ll provide the documentation!
The subjects completed so far include:
The remaining 11 are “secret”–stand by to learn which ones they are!
This collection will also include documented German and Romanian Bf 109s and Bf 110s, and Romanian IAR-80 series fighters.
I’ve made considerable additional progress, but this update has gotten kinda long and you now have a clue to things I’ve been working on since my previous update.
Here’s where my schedule stands at the moment, certainly subject to massive change. I’ve only got about 55 available work days between now and the time I need to have one or more of these projects on the street in time for the 1 August 2018 75th anniversary.
My research is complete except for some clean-up and follow-up activities. I’ve laid out my book structure and am just starting the writing, although some significant technical sections are already finished. Remember that I not only have to finish writing, editing, and laying it out, it also must be peer-reviewed by a few selected experts to help me clarify and tighten the story. Then the book has to go to the printer, etc., etc.
At this point I expect some or all of the model airplane markings decal sets to be on the street sometime fairly early this summer. It’s not completely clear whether the documentary or book will hit the street first, but I’m working like a stevedore (12-14 hour days seven days a week except for the days when I have other commitments). It will be a near-run thing to have it on the street by 1 August, but I’ll do everything within my power to make that happen–CONSISTENT WITH TURNING OUT AN ACCURATE AND CREDITABLE PRODUCT.
Thanks for your consideration. I’ll keep you informed as to my progress.
The confusion comes initially from the 93rd Bomb Group’s 1 July 1943 letter listing the nicknames for all 93rd ships in the desert, which states 42-40127 was named “Thar She Blows.” Further confusion has arisen since it’s conclusively documented that Capt Chuck Merrill flew 42-40127 to Ploesti, and he’d previously flown a ship named “Thar She Blows.” Official letter and all that, right?
But the name is not correct, and here’s why. The actual proof is immutable, but there are still some open questions at the bottom of this article.
42-40127 is clearly identified as “Thar She Blows” in the 93rd’s 1 July 1943 letter.
She is clearly identified by her full serial number in numerous 93rd and 201st Combat Wing documents as a ship that flew the TIDAL WAVE mission with Capt Merrill as her pilot. 127 returned from Ploesti and eventually became the 458th Bomb Group’s “assembly ship,” nicknamed the First Sergeant and painted white with large blue and red polka dots,.
We can easily confirm First Sergeant‘s identity using this photo, taken early during the “assembly ship” repaint. The serial number is clearly visible on the fin:
Here the thot plickens.
127’s post-TIDAL WAVE history is not in my area of concentration, but identifying the correct nickname at the time of TW is. I’m so busy with other important aspects of the TW mission that I didn’t intend to get drawn into a protracted discussion about one particular airplane that everybody thought was fully identified.
I initially assumed the 93rd’s letter was accurate and her name was “Thar She Blows.” However, my good friend Andy Gaster pointed out that 127 was variously identified as either “Thar She Blows” or Thar She Blows (Again). Since my photos of both sets of nose art confirm they were different ships, I needed to confirm which was correct, still assuming it was one or the other.
Knowing 127 ended up in the 458th Bomb Group, I recently had an interesting exchange about 42-40127 with Darrin Scorza, the HMFIC at www.458BG.com. I wondered whether he had documentation of the ship’s nickname prior to her assignment to the 458th.
He does not, but had been told the previous name in the 93rd was either Thar She Blows (Again) or Bucket of Bolts (which was a new nickname to me). According to information provided to Darrin by Pat Schenk in 2006, “Thar She Blows” was Chuck Merrill’s first B-24, serialed 41-23658. He believed that 42-40127 was Thar She Blows (Again) when Merrill flew the ship to Ploesti.
However, Tom Brittain chimed in with the assertion that 127 was named Bucket of Bolts in 93rd service, although not necessarily assigned to Capt Merrill.
Darrell went on to point out a very interesting issue. Comparing the well known photo of First Sergeant:
And the photo of Thar She Blows (Again):
He noted that :
Damn. Now he got me back into my old “Cutting Edge Modelworks/PYN-ups Decals” mindset and I couldn’t rest until I tracked this SOB down.
42-40127 was a B-24D-30-CO, a Consolidated-built ship in the 42-40058 to 42-40137 range (Block 35 started at 42-40138). Aside from mods that may have been made a various mod centers, we need to stay within the same block as much as possible when doing photo comparisons.
Both 42-40126 and 42-40130 were assigned to the 44th BG (neither a Ploesti veteran) and I have several excellent photos of each. Unfortunately not one of them shows the left side nav window/.50 mount. Damn. Luckily many photos are available of other ships in the Block 30 serial series, so we can pin this down.
The first thing to know about Block 30 is that it initiated installation on the Consolidated production line of the .50 socket in the bombardier’s left side sighting window (directly behind the nose greenhouse). Prior to this Block all .50 “cheek” mounts were installed at the mod centers, and all had separate framing around each Plexiglas window.
Once the .50 socket was introduced on the production line (with Block 30), a single large external reinforcing panel framed both windows. In addition, the Block 30 introduced an external stiffener across the bombardier sighting window for the .50 cheek socket. All prior mounts had only an internal mount visible through the bombardier sighting window.
In the model airplane builders world, the first objection would be: “but, but, maybe it was a field mod.” No, it was not. These particular widows remained the same for these early B-24Ds throughout their combat lives. There were field mods for other items on later B-24s, but these remained as issued to the combat groups.
So:
The following pics help us follow these threads.
Not much of the bombardier’s side sighting window can be seen and none of the nav’s window, but it’s very clear they had separate frames. This confirms “Thar She Blows” was earlier than Block 30. While I cannot confirm the 41-23658 serial stated by Pat Schenk, it’s at least reasonable.
As with “Thar She Blows,” we can clearly see separate frames around the nav and bombardier sighting windows. Furthermore, we can clearly see the horizontal .50 support frame is inside the Plexiglas bombardier sighting window. Both features confirm this is also a pre-Block 30 ship. TSBA has been claimed to be 42-40130, but this is clearly incorrect as 130 was also a Block 30 and would have had the single exterior reinforcing plate surrounding both windows. In any case I have photographic documentation that 130 was assigned to the 44th Bomb Group as Avenger II. Though possible she eventually went to the 93rd, it does not seem likely. I doubt 130 was ever named TSBA.
42-40127 Nose After 458th Partial Repaint
Although the photo is not that good, we can see a large unitary plate surrounds both the nav and bombardier windows, and the .50 socket frame support is clearly external to the Plexiglas.
Since this is could be somewhat difficult to see in the photo above, here’s a much better pic of another Block 30 ship, 42-40060, The Champ:
And an even better pic of B-24D-30-CO 42-40082 showing the single reinforcing plate:
If you carefully compare the panel lines on 40127 the two pics above, you’ll see they match.
It is now very clear that neither “Thar She Blows” nor Thar She Blows (Again) were ever the same ship as 42-40127.
The window frames are completely wrong, and “frames don’t lie!”
While this analysis cannot address what name 40127 carried before coming to the 458th, it does leave me in a quandary. The 1 Jul 43 93rd name list definitely lists 40127 as “Thar She Blows,” and many documents prove that 127 definitely flew the TIDAL WAVE mission. We’ve now gone from a possible typo on the 93rd letter to a gross error. I can’t even state with authority whether TSB or TSBA flew or did not fly on the TW mission, although obviously not serialed 40127.
Now I have to dig deeper to see whether I can accurately name 40127 at the time of TW; it’s possible it carried no name at the time, but this seems unlikely since it was in the original complement of 93rd ships to come down from the UK.
Please let me know if you have photographic proof of:
The correct serial number for “Thar She Blows”
The correct serial number for Thar She Blows (Again)
The correct nickname applied to 42-40127 at the time of TIDAL WAVE
I hope you found this analysis interesting!
I found a (postwar) account from a TIDAL WAVE veteran who was badly burned in the crash of his ship just outside Ploesti. He stated that just-captured TW prisoners of war (presumably the bombardiers, who would have been the only crewmen with the technical knowledge) were forced to disarm time-fused bombs in Ploesti. Since his German captors had refused him medical treatment at the time this incident purportedly occurred (he didn’t receive medical treatment until turned over to the Romanians about 72 hours after his capture).
This obviously would have been a massive violation of the Geneva Convention, and if it really happened there should be additional evidence. None of the German or Romanian official files mention this, perhaps for obvious reasons, but I’ve never read a hint of this in any other contemporary accounts by US airmen either. In fact, both German and Romanian documents state some bombs were disarmed by GERMAN bomb disposal experts, and in fact at least two were killed when the bomb they were working on exploded.
Do you have information on this? Please email me at support@Low-Level-Ploesti.org.
Thanks!
There’s some really cool nose art here. But be aware, some of the “favorites” people have mentioned earlier are not included! They are omitted for one of three reasons:
Some of this artwork is what we call “line art” graphics and will be released in my Cutting Edge Decals line. Some of it is what we call “shaded art” and will be released in my PYN-ups Decals line.
Previous buyers of my 1/48 B-24 and B-17 decal sets in both my Cutting Edge and PYN-ups Decals lines have seen that none of those sets include the national insignia (the 1/72 sets do include national insignia).
The reason they’re omitted from the 1/48 sets is straightforward: since there were many variations in the exact type of national insignia applied to various TIDAL WAVE ships, to include the proper variants on the decal sheet with the nose art would dramatically reduce the number of nose art subjects I can offer, and therefore drastically reduce the choices you’d have in marking your Liberator models. By separating the national insignia from the nose art and other individual markings, you get a LOT more nose art subjects per set and can then choose which one of my national insignia markings sets is appropriate to the specific plane you’re modeling.
Take the survey below to tell me which ships you like best. It’s OK to skip any planes that definitely don’t interest you.
Sorry, this survey is now closed. Thanks for participating!