As the bombs detonated on Ploesti’s refineries, gasoline tanks caught fire and began exploding, throwing debris high into the air, into the paths of approaching Liberators. Now the B-24 crews had a new threat to contend with, as if the deadly anti-aircraft fire and enemy fighters were not enough.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in World War II magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

Ramsay Potts’ Section B bombed Astro Romania, the largest oil producer in Europe, a target originally assigned to the 98th. As the remnants of the 93rd’s two sections drew away from the target, they were attacked by fighters. Gunners aboard the Liberators managed to force them to break off the attack. As the German pilots regrouped, they caught a couple of B-24s that were flying at about 300 feet instead of hugging the ground, where the fighters could not safely attack. Both Liberators were shot down.

When the Tidal Wave survivors got back to their bases in Libya, 11 of the 93rd Liberators were missing–almost one-third of those dispatched from the group had failed to return. Lieutenant Colonel George S. Brown, who had been in the formation over Ploesti with Baker, was assigned as interim commander until Colonel Leland G. Fiegel could arrive from the United States to take command of the group. Colonel Brown later became chief of staff of the Air Force. Colonel Fiegel had been with the 93rd in the United States and remained in command of the Traveling Circus until after D-Day.

With the memories of Ploesti still fresh in their minds, the five B-24 groups in Libya were sent on another mission against a heavily defended target, the Messerschmitt factories at Weiner-Neustadt, Austria. Colonel Timberlake led 101 B-24s on one of the longest missions of the war. They damaged two of four assembly buildings so effectively that Me-109 fighter production at the plant was cut by more than one-third. Other missions were flown in support of the Allied advance in Sicily. Finally, the three Eighth Air Force B-24 groups were allowed to return to England. The 93rd reached its Hardwick base on August 27.

After a few days of rest for the pilots and repair for the planes, the Traveling Circus resumed operations on September 1. On September 6, the group flew a diversion for B-17s en route to Stuttgart. On the 15th, they were sent to Chartres, where the 93rd was the only group to bomb the primary target. The next day, the group was alerted for another deployment to Africa, this time to Tunis. The Traveling Circus was living up to its name.

Arriving at Tunis on September 18, the Traveling Circus began operations in support of the Fifth Army in Italy, as well as strategic bombing missions. Missions were flown against the Italian cities of Leghorn, Pisa and Lucca. On October 1, the Traveling Circus went back to Weiner-Neustadt on a mission again led by Timberlake. It was the longest B-24 mission of the war to that point. Unlike the earlier Weiner-Neustadt mission, when enemy resistance had been comparatively light, the Liberators were greeted by strong flak and a large force of fighters. Fourteen B-24s were lost on the mission, although none were from the 93rd. The next day the group returned to England.

For the remainder of the war, the 93rd was involved in Eighth Air Force operations flying out of England. The 93rd was now the lead group of the 20th Combat Bomb Wing, under the command of Ted Timberlake, who was now a brigadier general. The 20th Wing was one of three combat wings of B-24s that made up the Second Air Division, the only B-24 division of the Eighth Air Force.

On October 8, 1943, the 93rd went to Vegesack again. That was followed by a mission to Danzig on October 9 and a diversion for the famous B-17 mission against the ball bearing factories at Schweinfurt on October 14. Several 93rd aircraft were lost over Vegesack. On December 16, the 93rd went to Bremen, the 50th mission for Boomerang, the Liberator that had almost been condemned to the scrap pile after the group’s first mission. Boomerang flew 53 total missions, including Ploesti, and her gunners were credited with downing one Italian and 11 German fighters before she was sent to the United States on a war bond tour in the spring of 1944.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to