The B-24H and J Liberator.....

That's whats confusing, the photos of the Black Cat is from the 392nd BG.
But the website I found says the colour photo is from the 490th BG (square T on the tail) but clearly describes the cat on the other side?

Hmmmm.....see what you mean mate!

This gets confusing.

Which is the best book about the Ploesti raid and the B-24's?

"Black Sunday Ploesti" by Michael Hill.

That looks pretty nice, does it have a lot of detail in it?

I have that book. Excellent!! Hundreds of pictures and an extremely large amount of information including an appendix with pics (in many cases) and individual info on every aircraft in the raid. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! (but expensive)

This is what I have found to document this B-24 named Sleepy Time Gal. I have found a couple of other documents and pictures that name this crew to this plane. The Davidson sir name is the reason I have chosen this plane.

RAAF PERSONNEL SERVING ON ATTACHMENT IN ROYAL AIR FORCE SQUADRONS AND SUPPORT UNITS IN WORLD WAR 2 AND MISSING WITH NO KNOWN GRAVE.
413969 Warrant Officer DAVIDSON, Stuart Hugh

Source:
NAA : A705, 166/9/428.
Aircraft Type: Liberator
Sleepy Time Gal
Serial number: 42 – 110120
Radio call sign:
Unit: 530 Sqn USAAF

Summary:
On the night of 28 October 1944 Liberator 42-110120 of 530 Sqn, 380 Bomb Group USAAF, 5th Air Force, failed to return from a mission to Macassar, NEI. The aircraft took off from Darwin at 1751 hours, manned by a RAAF crew of eleven. The following sequence of messages was received by Ops room No 380 (B) Group:
281420Z No 3 out, Position 06.25S 120.50E course 120deg true.
281555Z 2 engines out, posn 0800S 123.35E.
281628Z Not likely to reach base. No 4 giving trouble. Preparing to ditch.

Darwin obtained a bearing of 340deg at 281604Z. Search ships and 4 B24's immediately began search, and B24's, B25's and Catalinas on subsequent days were unable to locate missing aircraft or crew.

Crew:
RAAF 408190 FO Harrison, A.L., Captain, (Pilot).
RAAF 413969 WO S.H.Davidson, 2nd Pilot.
RAAF 416078 Flt LT Cropley, A.A., Navigator.
RAAF 408590 FO O'Dea, D.J., Wireless Operator/Air Gunner.
RAAF 416861 WO K.L.J.Killen, Wireless Operator/Air Gunner.
RAAF 423587 Flt Sgt W.R.Barber, Navigator/Bombaimer.
RAAF 408448 Flt Sgt C.L.Wilken, Wireless Operator/Air Gunner.
RAAF 36474 Sgt S.H.Jamieson, Armament/Gunner.
RAAF 429432 Sgt J.E.Cook, Air Gunner.
RAAF 62526 Sgt W.J.Bird, Fitter 11A/Gunner.
RAAF 116993 LAC (Agt Flt Sgt) F.W.Anstey, Flight Engineer.
ARMY VX21828 Major Latrelle, H.R., AIF, Intel. Officer (Observer).
In 1949 it was recorded that the aircraft and crew were lost at sea.

Great stuff mate! Looking forward to see it getting built!

Looks like a must have book fellas.... Cheers!

vikingBerserker said:

That looks pretty nice, does it have a lot of detail in it?

Click to expand...

You bet it does!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From Amazon.co.uk. 1 review...... Michael Hill has re-visited one of the most dramatic bombing missions of World War II. It was the longest bombing mission to date in the war, by the only bomber with the range to do it. He leads you through the exact targets and squadron placements, by name of pilot of each B-24 aircraft (178 of them), and simultaneously unfolds the "big picture" of the low-level raid on the oil refineries of Ploesti, Romania. At least one bomb group was told in their final briefing, "coming back today is secondary." What a nice send-off to crews who had been training in the Libyan desert with exercises in formation 50 feet above the sand dunes! This dramatic mission resulted in the and loss of over 360 crew. Some planes returned with corn stalks in their cowlings! The extensive list of crews, by airplane, and many photographs of planes and crews make this a must purchase for those whose relatives participated in the raid. The main distraction from the book is the extensive typographical errors, inconsistencies and mis-spellings of crew names, names of planes, and so on. But I am richer and my family history is stronger because I have read this book. Thanks, Michael, and thanks to the publisher for investing in a visually and textually compelling work. (If a second edition or printing is planned, perhaps a re-editing to keep the errors to fewer than can be found in this review could be undertaken.)

T

Very cool!

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