While the living conditions in Libya were atrocious, at least the crews encountered less fighter opposition there than over occupied Europe. On the other hand, the flak over the targets was intense. Missions were flown in support of Allied troops in North Africa. Then, after the Afrika Korps was pushed out of Africa, the B-24s were sent against Italian targets–Naples, Palermo and Messina. After a final mission against Cretone on February 22, 1943, the 93rd returned to England, this time to Hardwick, where the ground crew had moved while the aircrews were operating in North Africa.

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The group’s operations officer, K.K. Compton, now a lieutenant colonel, remained in Africa to take command of a new B-24 group, the 376th Bomb Group. Many other 93rd staff officers and squadron commanders were given command of new B-24 groups in the European Theater of Operations.

The 329th squadron had remained in England, working with an experimental program. When that assignment ended, the squadron flew missions with the newly arrived 44th Bomb Group. Although the 44th was older than the 93rd, the newer group had been first in combat. The 93rd had thus far escaped severe damage from the enemy, but the 44th began taking heavy casualties from the onset of operations. The newly arrived Liberator group attained a reputation as a hard-luck outfit, and took to calling themselves the ‘Flying Eight Balls.’

While the 93rd was in Africa, the group public relations officer, Corporal Carroll Stewart, began issuing news releases describing the outfit’s exploits, dubbing the 93rd ‘the Traveling Circus.’ A newspaperman in civilian life, Stewart published The Liberator, the first overseas troop newspaper of the war. News releases mailed directly to U.S. newspapers made the group famous and caused great consternation among the B-17 groups. Stewart was told by a two-star general, ‘From now on you’ll work for the whole Eighth Air Force, or else.’ Stewart, along with another Eighth Air Force public relations man, James Dugan, would later write the definitive account of the most famous B-24 mission of the war, the raid on the Rumanian oil fields at Ploesti.

From Hardwick, the 93rd resumed flying missions over Europe. Several were diversions, missions flown against less important targets to draw fighters away from B-17 formations. On March 18, 1943, the 93rd bombed Vegesack, Germany. Over the target, the German fighters bypassed the accompanying B-17s to concentrate their attacks on the B-24s. One 93rd airplane was lost, but the 44th had its usual bad luck and took the most casualties. It became a joke in B-17 circles that crews were glad to see the B-24s on a mission because they knew the fighters would go after the Liberators and leave the Flying Fortresses alone.

Since there were more B-17 than B-24 groups in England, tactics in the Eighth Air Force were built around the Flying Fortress. Because the B-24s were so much faster, the Liberator pilots were forced to fly at reduced airspeeds and do a lot of jockeying to maintain the precise formations called for by Eighth Air Force policy. Consequently, the B-24 was underutilized in the strategic bombing role in Europe.

The 93rd became part of the 2nd Combat Bomb Wing in early 1943. After a short stand-down to train for night operations, the 93rd resumed daylight bombing. Missions were flown to Rotterdam, Antwerp, Brest and Bordeaux in the spring of 1943, along with several diversions for B-17 groups. The Traveling Circus crews worked with crews from newly arrived B-24 groups, teaching them the rudiments of combat flying.

In early June, the group was taken off combat operations and ordered to begin practicing low-level flying. The prospect of a low-altitude mission was frightening to the men of the Traveling Circus. They had good reason to be fearful. The 93rd was to be part of the mission code-named Tidal Wave, the disastrous attack on the oil fields in Ploesti, Rumania.

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