An uncle I never met flew in this raid. Victor Oliffe. My brother was named after him. Victors wife ( my Aunt) waited a year to hear if he survived. Sadly she was told he did not make it. Very proud of his contribution to the War.

The world's first oil refinery The most notable accomplishment of Wallachia's industrial revolution was the building of the World's first industrial oil refinery in 1856-1857. Situated at Râfov, near Ploiești, the refinery had a processing capacity of 7.5 tons per day. Wallachia (and from 1858, Romania) became the first country in the world with an officially recorded crude oil production, 275 tons. Also in 1857, Bucharest became the first city in the world to use lamp oil for public illumination.

My father was a B-24 Bottom Turret Gunner , he was on the 2nd mission to bomb Ploesti but didn't make it to the target due to engine failure . Forced to parachute from the plane he became a POW after 17 completed missions .

My grandpa, Chuck Foster, 514th Squadron, 376 HBG, piloted the "Betty Baby" and participated in the Ploesti Raid. Grateful he made it back and grateful for the service of all the brave men who served.

This man is a National Treasure and a humble Hero... God bless Him and his Wonderful generation.. They were the Greatest!!!!

@gabrielcalin4238

4 жыл бұрын

Robert Jensen this man bombed my grandparents

My dad flew on this mission as pilot of Southern Comfort of 506th Sqdn, 44th BG. He made it back.

@briansmith7458

5 жыл бұрын

If you haven't already, record his memories. I failed to do so with my grandfather and regret not knowing the story of his experience.

@nickschrier5264

4 жыл бұрын

Lucky him. Thanks for his service

Well, respect from Romania. May we never know war again.

WOW, what a great piece of history. Heard so often of the Ploesti Raid and now the story of THE pilot who participated is available on youtube and told by himself. And some did not make it. I asume time heals the wounds.

What a great person and I could tell he had a good sense of humor too. Can't say enough about his contribution and sacrifice and being fortunate to run into this video and here it first hand. I hope he's still with us and telling his story to others.

This video is great. Better than the archives and documentaries he even refers to. Great research and first person account.

Met this man at the Scottsdale AZ airport static airshow he was fascinating talking to him this was back in 2012 I think the courage it took to fly these missions he told me they had no rescue if you got lost or were shot down on your own.

A great story by Mr. Sternfels, much thanks for his distinguished service! Would make a great movie..

A now deceased friend of mine flew on this famous Military Mission. His name is Harold Kingery who resided in Memphis, TN after he entered civilian life following WWII. His last few years were spent with his wife in North Carolina. Just an FYI. GOD BLESS all those who came before the Baby Boomers like me. They were a cut above. God help this generation that is coming up nowadays!

The Raid was really a disaster; the navigator for the lead ship, a mere lieutenant pointed out to the Captain, who was a two star General that they were not flying in the right direction, but was overruled; result planes flying in from the wrong direction and allowed the defenders to have a field day, plus flying at a height which gave the most heavily defended target no problem in shooting down so many B-24s. They had far to many Chiefs and not enough Indians as usual!

@StopFear

5 жыл бұрын

Derek Ambler I also read the same. But the outcome and damage to the oil was success. It was a disaster in view of the plan which expected more planes to survive. They still hit the target except when they were attacking they already were seeing that it was a suicidal attack. Another huge value outcome of the attack besides destruction of the oil was the shock and moral drop of the Hungarians who expected two things. One that the Germans’ AA guns and planes would prevent any attacks by the allies. Second was that Americans would’ve afraid and incompetent due to their inexperience in war. Germans couldn’t protect Romanian oil fields and apparent after the raid they sort of lost faith in their German allies.

@laure5333

5 жыл бұрын

@@StopFear; "...shock and moral drop of the Hungarians (!?!?!?!)..." Really...?!? Romanian oil fields are, obviously, in a country called...Romania...and Romania is inhabitated by...Romanians not by Hungarians,...!!! You got it, mate...??? Practicing a bit of logic exercise, now and again, is always beneficial for the brain activity...!!! It helps, anyway...!!!

What an honour to be in the same room as this guy!

Thank you so much. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this interesting veteran. I salute you sir.

My high school chemistry teacher was a bombardier on b-24's. He flew on missions to Ploiesti later in the war, not the first mission to Ploiesti.

Awesome to here about someone who experienced this nasty raid!

This was a terrifying mission. The Germans had massive anti-aircraft emplacements as well a flak train waiting for these guys.

@countd5955

4 жыл бұрын

Paul S, you are correct.

Fascinating talk. For anyone interested you pronounce the town name Plo - esht as far as I can manage to make out. Beautiful country Romania.

Great editing guys. Good programs. Thanks

That was great. Thanks so much, yet again. :)

Ben Kuroki. 409th Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group. Top Turret gunner, Tupelo Lass.

My great grandfather once repaired a downed liberator using some of natures "tools" when no tools were available to fix the plane, and it actually flew back :D I am romanian btw, my family was always with the US, although they were forced to fight for the wrong sides at the time.

@iparent2148

4 жыл бұрын

It would be very interesting to know the name of the bomber. There were a few that were repaired I believe.

thanks,nice job

An absolute joy to watch. 👏

I just love listening to these guys, wouldn't you just love to meet them personally.

Remarkable revelation that Compton, who had made the fatal navigation mistake and never owned up on it during the raid, even kept his silence afterwards for dozens of years, had intended to court martial Kane for not having followed him in his infamous wrong turn. Col. Kane who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the raid, which in hindsight probably saved him from Compton's intentions.

@jaman878

4 жыл бұрын

Kane and Compton both received the MOH for this mission. There was no love loss between these two. The mission was already in jeopardy before the turn error was made. The groups got separated due to weather and how to handle it. This was not supposed to happen. It meant even without the IP error the second group would fly in just as the first groups bombs would be going off after the timer delays. While it’s clear that they turned too early, It still is not entirely clear as to what happened on the flight deck of “Teggie Ann”. It is clear that a cover up began as soon as they got back. Teggie Ann was the lead bomber with Col. Compton in command, or was he? I wonder what happened between Col. Compton, his navigator and General Ent? Who gave the orders on that day?

@jaman878

4 жыл бұрын

Ok I stand corrected. Col Leon Johnson and Col. Kane won the MOH for the Ploesti mission.Col. Compton did not..

I met a man in the Rehab facility where my mom spent some time who (by his account-though I have no reason to not believe him) participated in the Ploesti Raid. I was/am still dumbfounded by his/their courage and tenacity. Would I have been able to do what they did? Orders are orders, I guess but had I known in advance how HIGH the losses would be, I sure wouldn't have wanted to! That mission was bungled by the higher ups.

@shananagans5

6 жыл бұрын

Tube: Yea, that kind of thing amazes me too. My grandfather landed on Iwo Jima & They knew a certain % would be killed. Just think about the poor guys from countries that didn't value the lives as much. Russia would just throw huge numbers of poorly equipped, minimally trained men into battle counting on superior numbers even though they knew that would result in massive losses.

Great Man and his story of survival and how he and his crew bitt odds on suicide mission to Ploesti. Tidal Wave and Market Garden 2 biggest blunders of WW II - how many man died cause the top brass screwed up.

A most enjoyable evening viewing events in world war 2 a remarkable man doing remarkable things and surving

The REAL deal! Thank you Sir.

Mr. Sternfels passed away January 24th 2018.

@motorTranz

4 жыл бұрын

May God comfort his family. My condolences.

by the men who were there how humble yet so brave long will we remember him and his like

Very interesting story!

What a HERO! No wonder we won the war with men like this on our side!

I am romanian. It is spelled Ploiești and it,s pronounced "Ployeshti". XD nice vid though :)

@ghostdiv7sion194

6 жыл бұрын

i found out that before the instauration of the communist regime (and the raid), the city was called "Ploești", only after that it was changed to "Ploiești", which is still being used nowadays. So the pronunciation is very good.

@cleekmaker00

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for that clarification. One learns something new every day!

@selcovoilucian8253

3 жыл бұрын

Ploestii is how the English speakers pronounce it So it's Ploiești not Ploestii The Ș is like 'sh' in shoot The i at the end is short not long Thus prouncing Ploiești has a sudden stop after the i The way you prounce it is Ploiestiii But this is niter picking , nobody expects you to pronounce it like a native Any foreigner using perfect grammar and spotless pronouncing must be a spy :)))) Greatings from Romania

My grandpa was the navigator on Hadley's Harem

this was great

What a nice character.. he must have been the best grandpa even . awesome.

Today, Father's Day 2020, I reposted my father's Ploesti story. Here it is, along with a clip of a screenplay about the raid (the vid isn't about Andy). August 1, 1943, 4AM. Tripoli, Libya, and 24 year old Lt. Andrew "Andy" Anderson, has been "cooling his heels" for the last 3 hours in the cockpit of Maternity Ward, his B-24 Liberator, awaiting orders to take off. This would be Andy's 7th mission and the 98th Bomb Group's most famous: Operation Tidal Wave. The target: the complex of oil facilities in Ploesti, Romania, which was the largest supplier of oil and petroleum to Hitler's war machine. It was estimated that it supplied nearly 40% of the Reich's petroleum needs. Intelligence reports indicated the operation would meet little resistance and our bombers would take the Germans defending the city completely by surprise. Andy was piloting the Liberator named "Maternity Ward" that day, one of 178 B-24's that arrived at their target only to find the Ploesti defenses on full alert. Yet despite fierce resistance and withering fire from the ack-ack guns, they completed their mission and destroyed nearly half of the refinery's capacity. Maternity Ward was lucky enough to drop it's payload and survive the raid, but was pursued by German fighters over the waters of the Aegean where they blew his Liberator out of the sky and into the Sea. Andy was still strapped in his seat when he regained consciousness, 50' feet underwater. The windshield had blown out and the other pilot's seat was empty. He unbuckled and made his way back through the cabin...only to find his radio man pinned by wreckage. Though he tried desperately to free him, Andy had to leave his friend to drown...or die with him. He swam out of the submerged wreckage of Maternity Ward, only to surface in the midst of burning oil all around him. Off in the distance a life raft popped up and he was able to swim to it and clamber aboard. Moments later he heard the pilot, who had been thrown through the B-24's windshield upon impact, calling to him in the distance. Of the 10 airmen aboard Maternity Ward, only the two pilots survived. Little did they know, the worst was still ahead of them: they spent the next 14 days (!!!) adrift in the Aegean Sea in a life raft with NO water and the only rations they had were a box of bullion cubes. I leave it to your imagination, what "liquid" they mixed with those dry bullion cubes...in order to survive in the blistering heat. On the morning of the 14th day a Greek fisherman rescued the pair and brought them back to a little island where they spent the next month recuperating. As fate would have it, shortly after they started feeling better the German army captured the island and took Andy and his co-pilot back to Germany, where they spent the rest of the war in prison camp. (As a VERY cool footnote, Dad was able to visit the island and meet the family of the fisherman who saved his life...some FIFTY years later!) Though deemed a success, Operation Tidal Wave was one of the most costly individual battles of the entire war: 178 bombers with 1,728 crewmen took off that morning, 54 planes were lost & 514 men gave their lives. The battle was described by the Air Force War College as "One of the bloodiest and most heroic missions of all time," and more Medals of Honor were awarded in that one action than any other battle in World War II...even D-Day...with EVERY airman awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. There are countless stories of individual acts of heroism that arose out of the war, yet try as I might: I. Simply. Cannot. Imagine being as courageous as these brave young men were. Thanks, Dad, and a MOST sincere Thank You to ALL who serve or have served. And here's the clip of a screenplay about the raid. It is exactly as Dad told us it happened, back in the 50's. kzread.info/dash/bejne/eXaMsLGchqa4iqg.html

You are right. He is a national Treasure. I have heard their is audio recording of cockpit radio traffic of the August 1, 1943 mission. Is this true?

How old was this pilot in WW2? 4? He looks young yet. Great stories, great generation, great country!

@dks13827

6 жыл бұрын

David Soom he is 96 now

Liberator: built Ford tough.

Very interesting....but not a word about being over the target...detached and odd. Guess he figured you know what happened.

my grandfather's uncle was the bombardier on The Sandman god bless him.

Sorry to hear of his passing. WELLDONE ROBERT WELLDONE!

Given the large and unbalanced loss of aircraft and the limited damage to the targets, Operation Tidal Wave is considered a strategic failure of the American side.

The target of plies to was repeatedly attacked. like a siege. They even used p38 aircraft to dive bomb it. The B24 was used due to its long range. It was decided to keep bombing it until they could no longer use it. It was ploesti raids. Not raid. He does not know much about the p 40. A good aircraft could out dive the zero had armor plate self sealing gas tanks 6 50 cal machine guns. You just did not dog fight the zero. Chennault figures out how to use it. It was used during entire ww2. They bombed ploesti by mounting a siege til it was totally wrecked. They had excellent German fighter squadrons covering it.

@AS-zk6hz

4 жыл бұрын

At the start of ww2. We only had the p40 and f4f wildcat. They held the line til we could develop better aircraft. Chennault effectively developed fighter tactics to offset the Japanese aircraft. Never dogfight a zero dive on them and keep going build up airspeed so you can repeat. The p 40 had armored glass and could out dive a zero the. Flying tigers did well with Chennault who was given 100 p 40 aircraft. To fight the Japanese.

He looks like Jon Voigt !

Kane was awarded the Medal of Honor for that raid.

wonderful guy and wonderful vid ... at 50:50 odd he says he had to fly a colonel back to Benghazi and found out 35 or 40 years later why he was selected to fly the colonel back, but doesn't say why. It would be interesting to know why he was selected.

Well how about that. Good job sir.

When was this documentary made? WW2 pilot - has to be at least 90.Thanks in advance

@PeninsulaSrsVideos

7 жыл бұрын

November 2010. (The year is always on the final page of our credits.)

@ceferila

6 жыл бұрын

Produced by Jarel & Betty Wheaton for Peninsula Seniors www.pvseniors.org Filmed in 2010

Baaaad "leadership" on these missions

They don't make them like this ANYMORE!!!!

Floyd Coffield flew B-24 "The Durand Express" there.

The americans that think Romania was a german colony in WW2 are very very far from the truth ! No one mentions romanian pilots and defences but it was our land lol . Most anti aircraft was ours ,developed and build in Romania and also check romanian airforce under " IAR industry " . The germans did help much with aircrafts but in reality most forces on the ground were romanian

@WarReport.

4 жыл бұрын

I have never heard anyone say they thought Romania was a German colony. Romania was first an ally of Germany due to the threat of Russia and to get the Moldavian land back. Once the war looked lost they switched sides. They lost a lot of men fighting Russia. Higher in terms of percentage of men served than Germany.

It's funny how all the old pilots seem to think thair plane was the only plane to serve on all fronts of the war. Here is a list i can come up with from off the top of my head P-40 the one he called a dog was prob the first to do so B-17, B-25, A-20 ,P-51, P-38, spitfire, hurricane, and a few more i think. A wonderful story though!

My grandfather is Harold Tabbacof

@seandonovan5559

4 жыл бұрын

I have a pocket knife that was in his pocket during this. A treasure to me. Priceless

That fine power he talks of, we called it moon dust in Afghanistan

The Americans effort to destroy Ploesti, in Romania, resulted in the reduction of oil to a maximum of 35%. Ploesti was mission developed in England, by the 8th Air Force, and flown by elements of the 264th Bomb group, and the 97th and 98th bomber squadrons of B-24's. The first mission was ineffective at high altitude, the secnd and following missions were very expensive, because of the AAA (flak) elements surrounding the refinery. One group of those elements were on two trains that surrounded the exterior of the refinery.

Wish he could comment on LTC Addison Baker of the 328th Bom Sq who was pilot of Hell's Wench

@countd5955

4 жыл бұрын

jason60chev, excellent comment.

That raid from.Ploiesti -Romania it was the biggest essec of usa army they have been beated quite a lot !.

He is rightfully disgusted with Compton. My father made the right turn on to Blue Target, west of Astra Romano. They hit it hard.

they took heavy losses because the weather in Romania in general is very nice. It is super easy to spot large bombers and shoot them down. Moreover I believe that the losses could of been far greater.

34 thumbs down? Seriously?

I wish I could find information on my uncle, who was a dorsal gunner flying in the B-17 Flying Fortress, based in Italy during the war. He's gone now, as is my father, and I didn't know about this until it was too late to ask. I have looked at pages of names who enlisted in the Army Air Corp for WW ll, but I guess unless I knew what squadron he was with, it's near impossible to find. I would appreciate it if someone could give me a website to look at, that makes it easier to find names of those who served. He was never shot down, and he made it back alive. I just wish I could find the information, just to honor him appropriately.

The Allison engine, which the US Army/Air, required (REQUIRED) on all the fighters was a real dog. The P-40 was an awesome aircraft, that was hobbled by the awful engine. They slapped the Merlin engine on a P-40 and POW, the P-51 project was born.

@theoracle6639

6 жыл бұрын

DeepPastry...."They slapped the Merlin engine on a P-40 and POW, the P-51 project was born." No they didn't. The brits put a Merlin onto a mark 1 Mustang and the P51 became a decent aircraft.

@kubanskiloewe

6 жыл бұрын

now after looking and filming many of the old warbirds i say the P40 was a to heavy plane and with to less power for its weight. A 109F outmaneauver it any time at any height; especially over 4000m. Dont get me wrong the P40 is a fine and ruggy design and surely a workhorse like the Hurricane BUT it was by far not as refined like a Spit or 109 or Yak.

@foremasp

6 жыл бұрын

At least that Allison was aircooled...could be shot to hell from ground fire (a real risk when you're doing an air to ground mission) and keep running. The Merlin had its drawbacks, super vulnerable to ground fire (small arms fire too), all you had to do is hit one of those intercoolers in the belly and the pilot ain't making it back home, best to have two Merlins at least!

@skipdreadman8765

5 жыл бұрын

Is that misinformation or disinformation? (The difference being whether you are ignorant of history or lying on purpose.) Either way, you get a Facepalm Award. The British approached North American to ask them to build the Curtiss-designed P-40 (under license) because they really needed fighters, liked the "Kittyhawk," and Curtiss couldn't give them the capacity. North American said, "Give us 90 days and we'll design something better." One hundred and two days later, the first prototype rolled out and the Brits loved it and called it the Mustang. The P-51A was awesome... below 15,000 feet. The Brits did not use it as an interceptor, but as a ground attack and reconnaissance aircraft due to its excellent low altitude performance and insufficient high altitude performance. Later, a British team decided to fit a P-51A with a Merlin engine and *pow* the P-51 was reborn as the legend it is best remembered as. The P-51 was never a P-40. It was conceived as an alternative to the P-40, using the same Allison engine. It reached its full potential after it was mated to the Merlin. There. Fixed that abominable untruth for you. Stop doing that.

@richardvernon317

5 жыл бұрын

@@skipdreadman8765 The Allison engine in the P40 had around same power output (if not more) as the Merlin II and III fitted to the early Spitfires and Hurricanes in use when NAA were developing the Mustang. The problem for the US engine was all of the US R&D effort was built around the use of turbochargers for high altitude use and not Superchargers like the boys at Rolls Royce were working on. The Mustang Mk I (the designation P-51A didn't exist until the RAF had to start getting them on Lend Lease which required the aircraft to have a US designation for accounting purposes and the RAF already had bought and received a few of them), was an excellent low level reconnaissance and ground attack aircraft with much longer range and 30 MPH more speed than any of the British single seat fighters (plus the latest P-40) at low altitude. The aircraft was used heavily for long range low level reconnaissance over both sea and land from bases in southern England from northern Holland, all the way around to western Germany and Sothern France and was quite capable of dealing with any Fw-190 or Bf-109 that got in its way in a 1 v 1. It was only when the Merlin 60 engine was developed with a two stage, two speed supercharger (originally for the Spitfire IX to allow it to deal with the FW-190) that Rolls Royce suggested that the installation of a Merlin 60 in a Mustang would be a very good idea. This happened after one of their test pilots flew a Mustang of the RAF's Air Fighting Development Unit in early 1942 and by the end of summer 1942, 5 aircraft had been loaned to RR by the RAF, fitted with the Merlin 60 and tested very successfully. The rest is history.

The Americans were correct in recognizing Germany's fuel dilemma, so having that mindset the Yanks should be more appreciative of the two most important land battles in the European theatre . Stalingrad and EL Alamein both in 1942. Hitlers plan was to capture the Caucacus oil fields and them drive on through Iraq , fortunately for the allies the Russians held firm. In N.Africa had Rommel won at El Alamein the way was open through to the oil rich middle east. Luck was on our side.

Training is always paramount except for luck even dumb luck!

search for Willi Reschke on youtube.....he flew in a BF109 to defend Ploesti from the anglo amercan invaders . Later he was one of the very very few who flew a TA 152H .

@faithful2008

5 жыл бұрын

Eric Hartmann or Black Devil russian nick name or the most successful fighter ace in ww2 was for a short period of time flying his BF to defend Ploiesti to, Hartmann operated over Rumania intercepting the American daylight bombing raids on the Rumanian oil fields and installations, and on 24 June he claimed a 15th USAAF P-51 fighter as his 265th victory

@faithful2008

5 жыл бұрын

also search Constantin Cantacuzino Bazu romanian most successful fighter ace in ww2, 69 planes kills credits, he fly his BF 109 G6 to defend Ploesti, and after 1944 when Roumania swich side to Rusia and USA Cantacuzino was then given a special mission: to transport Lieutenant-Colonel James Gunn III, the highest ranking American prisoner-of-war in Romania, to the airbase US at Foggia and then return to Romania with 56 B-17s converted for transport duty to airlift 1,274 U.S. prisonier of war. When he returned from Foggia US give him to fly a P-51 Mustang because his Bf 109 could not be refueled at Foggia. He needed only one flight to become familiar with the new aircraft and dazzled the Americans with his aerobatics. In his memoirs he say that after 1944 he was looking for german Eric Harmann ace for a close air fight combat but he never meet him lol, his last kill was Fw -190F in february 1945, after 1945 he escape for comunist regim of Roumania with his plane and flight to France, then to Spain where he leave till he die in 1958.

@faithful2008

5 жыл бұрын

and imagine 640 bombers + 240 fighthers escort, wow a total of 800 US plane versus 56 BF109 planes like is was on friday 5 may 1944, i read some german and romanian fighther ace say when you try to atack the B17 or B24 bombers instantly almost like a 20 P 51 plane was on your tail:D and i'm not talking bullshit i found this on Ploiesti Air Raids, Romania - USAAF WWII: ""FRIDAY, 5 MAY 1944 STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Fifteenth Air Force): 465th Bombardment Group (Heavy) with B-24s becomes operational, making a total of 20 heavy bomber groups operational in the Fifteenth Air Force. 640+ bombers (the largest force to date) attack targets in Romania and Yugoslavia; the B-17s hit marshalling yards at Ploiesti/Campina and Brasnov, Romania; the B-24s hit the marshalling yard at Ploiesti and troop concentrations at Podgoricu, Yugoslavia; fighters fly 240+ sorties in support"

@faithful2008

5 жыл бұрын

but also imagine NATO bombing Serbia in 1999, almost 1031 NATO Aircraft vs 14 - 29 Mig29 serbian planes lol was masacre, and the radar or mig29 was detecting target at only 70 km or because malfunction detect at 40 km, while the US F15 F16 detect target at 200 km and rocket range at 120 km

US ex-servicemen are more usually of the boasting stereo-type category. But this guy is nothing of that sort. I believed every word he said. I have a book on the second Ploesti raid, (Ploesti, by J.Dugan & C. Stewart) and its a great book. I recommend it. 1st. Leut. Sternfels was in flight 4 of the 98th. Heavy Bomb Group, the "Pyramiders". Four (out of 10) of that flight were shot down, 19 out of the 48 that formed the group were shot down, another 6 aborted, 1 ditched and another (Kickapoo) crashed on take-off.

Benghazi Libya.

I take a real man to fly a B-24. LOL.

@matrox

6 жыл бұрын

Ooops..."It takes".

And a little corection, the Germans got their oil from Hungary too( Balaton area)

Funny how one man became a hero for many, but a killer for some. From my point of view this man and his party killed over 200 innocent people dropping random bombs over the all Prahova region, over 1800 of them to be more exact. One bomb landed right beside my house (during my grandfather`s time). I understand the reasoning behind the attack, although we were forced by circumstances to give up the oil to nazi Germany. We were never strong enough, from a military stand point to rival Germany or America. It is so unfair how the rich never lose in a war scenario, and almost all the time, the people that really suffer the biggest losses are the innocent and poor civilians.