Description
On 1 August 1943, 180 B-24 Liberator heavy bombers left Benghazi Libya to fly the longest and most audacious bombing mission of the Second World War. They were to fly to Ploesti, Romania, to destroy the huge refineries that provided Hitler with a third of his oil. Each plane was loaded with a ton of bombs and had specific targets for those bombs. Operation Tidal Wave was flown at nearly tree-top level to assure perfect accuracy. But things went wrong from the start, resulting in chaos, confusion and the loss of 53 Liberators. Yet the bomber crews did manage to destroy a part of the target.
Today Tidal Wave remains one of the most remarkable bombing missions ever. Here you will meet the men who flew it.
