Lists of TIDAL WAVE B-24Ds have been published in the past. However, once I started evaluating them it was clear serious inaccuracies were present. The extensive B-24D list at the link below is the result of assessing more than 450 official documents of various types along with a number of crewmember diaries, letters, and articles.
While not every single data element is confirmed in every detail (as described on the linked page), this is the most accurate list ever published. To be clear, while I know a lot I certainly don’t know everything. If you have confirmed information (NOT stuff from the many Ploesti books out there) that will help complete this list, please contact me by clicking one of the links on that page. With your help, we’ll make this thing ROCK!
What doesn’t rock (yet) is the layout of the linked page. Everybody knows Microsoft Office does a horrible job of creating web pages and it is a prime example. I’ll work on cleaning up the format later; for now, just enjoy the cool TIDAL WAVE info.
Have you noticed in research that most of B-24’s assigned to the three bomb groups in North Africa carried the US insignia in six positions and the RAF fin flash. The US insignia carried by the bombers on the day of the attack carried a mix of stars and bars, stars with yellow surrounds, or stars and bars with red surround, or a mix of any combinations of the insignia. Do you have any documents from the 9th Air Force on the standards of the US insignia carried by the B-24 groups stationed in North Africa? I know most art work shows the bombers from the three groups assigned to the Ninth Air Force with the US insignia in four positions but photos with good quality show the stars on both wings. Books by Michael Hill and unit histories confirm the six position insignia of the aircraft in any of the three groups. The two bomb groups from the 8th Air Force carried the standard four position US insignia.
Were the differences of the six position insignia come from a group instruction or did have an origin at the Ninth Air Force level? Why did the bombers carry a RAF fin flash?
Hi Martin
Check out my article on this exact subject right on the http://www.Low-Level-Ploesti.org website. It should answer all your questions.
Dave
I’ve noted a couple of things in your Tidal Wave bomber list, both related to my father V. Allen Shouse, who was a bombardier on that mission.
First, the ship that he flew on is usually listed as “ANGIE THE OX”, but this Damon Runyon moniker was not applied to this B-24 until about October 1943, after My dad had returned to the US. He had never heard that name until I mentioned it to him. It was called “BORED OF WAR” during his tour, and that was it’s name on 1 Aug 43. If you go to the Best B-24 website you will find a picture that shows the starboard side of this ship with the name “ANGIE THE OX” clearly visible, but if you look closely under the copilot’s window you can see where the BORED OF WAR name has been painted over.
Secondly, the B-24 named DOPEY GOLDBERG that flew on the Tidal Wave mission was originally named “YANKEE REBEL”, which would probably explain why the word “Rebel” appears on the port side of that B24 in your picture. I would love to see that photo if you would care to share it. This ship in its original “YANKEE REBEL” livery is also posted on the Best B-24 website.
One more thing. You have JOEY UPTOWN listed as JOEY UPTOWN/SATAN’S KIDS. I just want to point out that the entire 515th BS/376BG was named SATAN’S KIDS.
I found your list very informative and can only imagine how much time and effort you put into compiling it.
Allen Shouse
Hi Allen
Extremely useful information — THANKS! I’ve also contacted you off-list.
Dave
Did K.K. Compton ever agree to any interview on the mission?
Do you know if Norman C Appold is still alive?
What ever happened to George C. Barwell -RAF
When is the next reunion and where?
How are still alive?
Hi Harry
Compton spoke fairly openly about the mission in the early 1990s. Among other things, he acknowledged the obvious truth that he was in the lead aircraft and led the mission from the front the entire time. The fiction devised by the Army Air Force that Lt Flavelle was leading (and Lt Iovine was deputy lead) to explain the early turn at Targoviste never made sense but has unfortunately taken on the mantle of truth with little objective analysis in the last 70 years. Compton retired as a Lt General and passed away on 15 June 2004.
Norm Appold passed away on 17 March 2004, three months before Gen Compton died.
I am currently looking for George Barwell or his family members. He was reported to have become a successful businessman in London after the war, but I’ve been unable to find anything else on him so far.
I’m not on the “reunion circuit” so can’t provide any info about upcoming reunions. You can Bing the individual bomb groups’ reunion organizations to see if they have anything planned, but of course the gentlemen who went on the mission are now in their 90s so probably not many attend reunions any more.
Dave
what happened to the airplane Hadley’s Harem?
Hi Harry
Hadley flew to Turkey but didn’t quite make it. His plane ran out of power and crashed into the sea about a mile off the Turkish coast. Hadley and his copilot Lindsey were trapped in the wreckage but the other seven crewmen escaped and made it to the beach.
This story had a very interesting and surprising ending. Although all the other American airmen who made it to Turkey after the mission were interned (Turkey was a neutral power), Hadley’s crewmen were considered marooned mariners because they crashed in the sea! But wait, there’ more: When the Royal Air Force sent a rescue launch (boat) to pick them up, the two RAF members who went ashore were captured by local Turkish soldiers and police and held in their jail. Seeing their fellow crewmen captured by the Turks, the launch crew turned around and raced for home, reporting the incident to their superiors.
A serious international incident resulted. The British and American embassies in Ankara had previously coordinated the RAF rescue with the Turkish government, but the word didn’t make it down to the local military or police commanders, who saw foreign soldiers land on their territory and promptly took them prisoner. After a flurry of political back-and-forth, a couple days later both the survivors of Hadley’s crew and the two RAF members were released and another RAF rescue launch picked them up and made haste back to home base without further incident.
The British National Archives at Kew has considerable information on this incident and the official record makes fascinating reading.
But wait, there’s still more: Roy Newton, a gunner on Hadley’s crew that day, decided it was worth trying to find the crash site and recover Hadley’s and Lindsey’s remains. Turkish fishermen had known for decades where the bomber’s carcass was sited and it was a popular dive site for local scuba divers, but literally unknown beyond the local area. Newton’s dream came true in late 1996 when the B-24’s nose section and the men’s remains were recovered. I’ve lost track of what happened to the nose section; maybe somebody else can tell us where it is now.
Thanks for asking!
Dave
My father was Christopher Norman Holweger, waist gunner on Hadley’s Harem during the Ploesti raid. I am writing his biography. Please contact me if you would like to read the introduction.
Hi Jo
You were kind enough to send me an earlier version of this chapter dated 5 May 2022. If you’ve made any updates since then, would you please email it to me at support@Low-Level-Ploesti.org.
Glad to see you’re still working on your book!
Dave
Thanks -found the answers-when will your book go on sale?
Hi Harry
Although many are pressuring me to write a book, my first and main release will be a documentary on DVD. The documentary will be available in two forms, the basic documentary and a deluxe edition that will include several additional documentary films and considerable additional material. I hope to have this project available in late 2014 or early 2015.
Dave
A complement of information on Hadley’s Harem.
After the remains of the crew were returned, the nose section was restored and is now sitting in a Turkish museum for display. It is the only survivor of the 178 planes engaged on the raid
I for one think that it should be returned to the USA and used to build a memorial
Pierre Brosseau Montreal QC
Hi Pierre
Thanks for the update! It would be nice for the nose section to be returned to the Air Force Museum.
Dave
I can find no information on Roy Newton (Leroy) beyond his finding of the wreckage of Hadley’s Harem over 50 years later.
What did he do all those years after the war?
Where did he live?
Is he still alive?
Thanks
For those who are not clear on who Roy Newton is: He was a gunner on B-24D Hadley’s Harem who survived it’s ditching off the coast of Turkey after attacking Ploesti, and one of the team that located the wreckage on the ocean floor in 1995 and recovered the hulk that now (hopefully still there, given recent events) sits in the Rahmi M. Koc Museum in Instanbul, Turkey.
Dave Klaus
Great website and project! Photo of 98th BG B-24D 42-40520 seems to show “Yen Tu” as the aircraft name – see image at the American Air Museum in Britain website at: http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/19190
Hi Terry
Thanks for the info. Agreed the confirmed aircraft name was Yen Tu; since I originally put together my list I’ve found the ship mentioned by name in a couple of contemporary diaries, which is very helpful given the poor quality of the available photo. The American Air Museum has done a very good job gathering photos of 8th Air Force aircraft, and as you found some from 9th AF while it was in the desert.
Thanks too for your kind comment about my website & project. I’ll post a major status update in the next week or so.
Dave
Just come across this as my father in law was telling us about his uncle George Barwell… not sure how old this message train is!
Hi Richard
VERY glad to hear from you! Please see my direct email to you.
Dave