“Jersey Bounce”

In July 1943, flown by Walt Stewart, Jersey Bounce took part in repeated low-level desert searches out of Terria for the downed crew of Big Job, a 376th Bomb Group aircraft, spotting survivors near a lone tree and dropping canteens and supplies across roughly 320 miles of terrain at altitudes near 1,000 feet.

B-24D serial 42-40609 departed Site #7, Benghazi on August 1, 1943 as part of the low-level attack on the Ploesti oil refineries in Romania. The aircraft carried a crew of ten to twelve men and was one of 33 aircraft from the 93rd Bomb Group participating in the mission, piloted that day by Lieutenant Worthy Long.

As the formation neared Bucharest, tail-gunner Sergeant Leycester Havens called out enemy fighters at six o'clock; moments later he told Long, "I've had it." He had been hit fatally by a Romanian fighter, becoming the first American killed in the Battle of Ploesti.

On interrogation after the mission, returned crews stated the aircraft was last seen as the formation left the target area. One engine was smoking but the aircraft appeared to be under control, with the pilot seemingly searching for a place to land.

A separate eyewitness account noted that this aircraft and another were seen entering cloud cover over Yugoslavia on the return route in close formation. Two aircraft were subsequently observed falling, apparently after a mid-air collision, and were later seen burning on the ground. Three descending parachutes were observed at approximately the same location. Long and co-pilot John Lockhart belly-landed the aircraft after losing engines and instruments to flak; several crew died in the post-crash fire, and the rest were held as prisoners of war at Timisul.

The MACR was filed on 12 August 1943 by Capt. J. S. Davis. Major Ramsey D. Potts Jr. (O-451039) was identified as having last sighted the aircraft. No search was conducted.