Tidal Wave Footage Photos, 15th AAF and Luftwaffe, 'Black Sunday', 1 August 1943

Nobody censored you. The off-topic posts have been moved. You can discuss it, but start a different topic. Is it that much to ask?

Thanks for your comments Dean me on behlaf of this forum but also personally I take great pride to deal with this subject and remind to all who may not know that Roumania in the WWII was a place where the military aviation wrote history, air aces were born and huge sacrificies were made by so few for somany ....like W.Chrchil said after the Battle of the Brittain " Never before in the field of human conflicts was so much owned by somany to so few " In no armmed conflicts of your country so many medals were awared in one day to somany .....was one of the deadliest and fierced air battles who was fought in the skies of Europe .

Bellow is one of your dad mates shot down sometimes during Ploesti campaigns...less than 6 months after his return from Roumanian detention camp he was killed by a drunken driver on his own town somewhere in the US. That was Eddie Laver...at the POW detention camp in Roumania he used to be the post master of the camp....when was he shot down ? what was his home state and city

Al

Photo from TARGET PLOESTI depicts Eddie Laver in Roumania

This post has been edited by alexkdl on January 20, 2005 07:35 pm

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For anyone in Roumania and abroad who would like to study more about Ploesti Tidalwave here are the books I have and which I suggest you to get hold of :

-BLACK SUNDAY by Michael Hill ( may be out of publ) sofar the best
-BOMBING HILTERS GOLD by Bob Sternfels , pilot of the SANDMAN
-TARGET PLOESTI by Leroy Newby, Bombardier at TW
-PLOESTI by James Dougan & Carol Stewart
-INTO TO THE GUNS of PLOESTI by Leroy Newby
-FORTRESS PLOESTI by Jay Stout
-B-24 Liberator Units of the 15th AF ( less relevant)
-THOSE BRAVE CREWS by Ray Ward
-PLOESTI RAID FROM THE LENSE just appeared in UK ( I am about to get it promises new photos and best historical review)

Due to the severe losses over Ploesti and over Roumania...there are only 5-10 minutes of footages left of the TW , most of the photographers and their equipment was lost over Ploesti ....here are the footages about Ploesti

AIR POWER ......by Walter Cronkite ......DVD names battle over Europe ,Ploesti
A WING AN A PRAYER...VHS
MEDAL OF HONOUR ....B24's over Europe PLOESTI VHS
PLOESTI B-24 at WAR VHS
B-24 at WAR Series II VHS


From the Roumanian side I am sure there will sometimes something ready

Al

Al

This post has been edited by alexkdl on January 20, 2005 08:18 pm

Below it's the cover of one of the best books related to TidalWave ( unfortunetly only in romanian language and out of library) -"Bine ati venit in infern"( Wellcome in Inferno) of Ioan Grigorescu published at Nemira editor.




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And below the 53sq. pilots admire the victories bars on their leader Bf-109 rudder Cpt.Toma Lucian on Mizil airfield '43. ( photo SMP)


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And the cover of other TidalWave publication from "Modelism" editor out of print some years ago.


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another book about Ploiesti is FESTUNG PLOIESTI, vol II, coordonatori dr. Ilie Manole, Gavril Preda, Eugen Stanescu, Ed. Printeuro, Ploiesti, 2004

The Eddie Laver story is very sad. I read that six months after being freed from the POW camp Eddy was killed by a drunken driver in his home town.

He was from 449th B.G. (719th Sq.) probably captured on Romanian teritory on 4.04.1944

Can you scan the cover of Festul Ploesti II edition ? if you say it appeared 2004 it must easy to obtain .also on my previous post I mentioned that Eddie was killed after his POW return from Roumania by a drunken driver

Al

This post has been edited by alexkdl on January 21, 2005 02:40 pm

Dan , can you tell me regarding Toma victory where exactly the B-24 when was shot down and where?

Al

I didn't mentioned that Toma got a victory on TidalWave B-24's. But with his personal plane Bf-109 G2 nr "White 1" was Sgt. Dumitru ( Mitrica) Encioiu credited with on B-24 shot down SW Ploesti.
Because was sunday Cpt.Toma Lucian was not on the airfield. Only the alarm flight pilots were on the airfield Mizil on 1 august '43 : Of.Maga Ioan, Slt.Scully, Sgt.Bebe Greceanu and Sgt.Mitrica Encioiu. Only two of them were credited with B-24 on that day.( Maga and Encioiu) The guns of Slt.Scully Bf-109 were jammed and he flown only as an observer of B-24's strike.

How can give me an information about B-24 with macr 3878 (s/n 42-40661) shot down on 4/4/1944? I want to konw more about this plane..name,crew and were it was lost

Alexkdl I saw that you are looking FESTUNG PLOIESTI. The book is in romanian and i'll send you the cover where is a picture with a romanian flak with a He 111 on the sky.

Victor,Dragos, Denes, Dan and other TW historians and interested members...I just receiced the most striking piece of history of the Tidalwave just published called " PLOESTI RAID THROUGH THE LENS" by Freeman, I see on here photos never seen before ever since the Tidalwave from Benghazi, enroute to Roumania , over Ploesti , ARR and Luftwaffe and AA batteries , military fileds and photos...crash sites with new photos and I gather that the autor was in Roumania and got assistance also from state archives as well many individuals in the US, Roumania and US State Archive.....again I will need many days to scan duzen of new photos and secret reports, maps and aftermath reports ( very critical) its the first books and most detailed book on TW with the most deepest evidences ever seen...I start with a few photos, but for the comprehensive posts I will have to scan one by one....

Bellow shows the photo at Pipera 62 Escadrila 6 De Vanatoare as Tidalwave raid alarm just sounded....round crews and pilots run to the aircraft....the book fails to say on most of the photos especially those from Roumania,,,who are the sources...the book say that the Roumania amd Luftwaffe loses on that day were :

I/JG4 Hauptm.Steinemann shot down............. safe
I/JG Unidentified pilot,crash damages
10/NJG27 (night squadron) shot down near Cojasca ,Ofw Albert Hoffmann and Untofz Ernst Kuemmel , killed

IAR-80B Lt Carol Anastasescu shot down.... safe
IAR 80B Shot down Dealea Bolintin unidentified piloit.....safe
BF-110C-1 Shot down near Dealea Bolintin ,Capitan Marin Ghica killed, Sergent Georghe Teliban , injured


Al

This post has been edited by alexkdl on January 21, 2005 04:12 pm

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