...near island Vis, Croatia. With its undercarriage down...
I just saw in the newspaper... one of our best authorities in the area of sinked ships/planes said that all evidence indicates that this indeed is The Tulsaamerican, Liberator that has been lost in late 1944.
Aircraft is also known because it was the last B-24 ever to exit Tulsa plant in Oklahoma!
BTW Island Vis, in Adriatic Sea was being used by allied aircraft from several sides (USAF, RAF, Yugoslaw partisan air force) as improvised base... it consisted of only one airstrip that provided rest for allied birds which was useful to USAF for example because they operated all over Europe from their bases in Italy.
Last flight of the TA report;
The Official Mission Report reads:
Captain Mixson took off on 17 December with thirty-one airplanes to attack the synthetic oil refinery at Odertal, Germany. There were five early returns; only fifteen of the twenty-six remaining airplanes reached the target. The bombs were dropped through a solid undercast with unobserved results.
To minimize drag and thus conserve gasoline for the long mission, the gunners had been briefed to stand by to lower the ball turrets but not to actually lower them until the I.P., Zuckmantl, was reached. Near Muglitz, just south of the initial point, the Group was attacked by upward to fifty Me-109's and FW-190's.
The attack lasted approximately fifteen minutes during which the enemy used both rockets and 20mm cannon. Passes were made mostly in pairs from 5 to 7 o'clock low with break-aways also low. The bombers which returned to the Base claimed twenty-four of the attacking fighters destroyed and five probably destroyed. Despite the fact that the ball turrets had the advantage of computing sights and most favorable position against low attacks, they fired the fewest number of rounds and claimed the fewest enemy airplanes of any position on the bombers. Of a total of 12,620 rounds of ammunition expended, the ball turrets expended but 1,365 rounds.
As a result of the fighter attack, nine planes in the formation were shot down and the tenth one was lost to ditching while in the traffic pattern near the Island of Vis. In all, ten planes were lost, five others were damaged, three individuals were killed, two were wounded, and ninety-three were missing in action.
On the way home from the mission, while north of Vienna, Captain Mixson was checking the number of planes in his formation over the radio, when a German voice, apparently using our radio frequency, broke in with the proper call sign to ask, "Where is the rest of your formation?", laughed, and signed off.
Killed in the ditching (The Tulsamerican) were 1st Lt. Eugene P. Ford (replacing Lt. Leo Cooper on this Mission as pilot), 1st Lt. Russell C. Landry, and T/Sgt Charles E. Priest. The wounded were Sgt. Archie S. Russell and Sgt. Walter L. Franks. Missing in action were the crews of the following pilots: 1st Lt. Robert A. Galvan; 1st Lt. Charles V. Lang Jr.; 2nd Lt. Frederick B. Capalbo; 2nd Lt. Philip J. Crossman; 2nd Lt. Max M. Hailey; 2nd Lt. Nckolas Sidovar; 2nd Lt. Gerald R. Smith; 2nd Lt. Kenneth B. Smith; and 2nd Lt. Thomas J. West.
http://yellowairplane.com/Book_Reviews/ ... Flight.JPG
