“José Carioca”
On the mission of 1 August 1943, B-24D serial 42-40617 (call sign 617-H), piloted by Lieutenants Nicholas Stampolis and Ivan Canfield, was flying on the right element of the wave ahead of the 409th Bomb Squadron formation. The aircraft departed Benghazi as part of the low-level Ploesti oil fields raid (Operation Tidal Wave), carrying ten men, several on their first mission.
At approximately 1400 hours, while flying at a height of 25-50 feet on the outskirts of Ploesti, the aircraft received a direct flak hit in the forward section of the bomb bay. The bomb bay tanks were likely struck and caught fire. Within 15-30 seconds the entire bomb bay was enveloped in flames and the aircraft began going down.
Within another 30 seconds the aircraft crashed and exploded into the wall of Ploesti's women's prison and continued into a second building beyond it, starting a large fire. A second eyewitness account described the plane flying on briefly in a definite glide before crashing into a flat, large building near the center of the city at an estimated airspeed of 250-350 mph, immediately exploding on impact.
No crew members were seen to bail out before the crash. Eyewitnesses reported that it was too late and the aircraft too low for any escape. All ten aboard were killed; it was considered very improbable that any crew member survived the explosion.
José Carioca had to abort the Ploesti mission briefly to have a leaking fuel cap tightened, then relaunched and successfully rejoined the formation before it was lost later that day. One account credits the aircraft and its Stampolis crew with seven prior combat sorties earlier that July -- Messina (7/5), an unnamed target (7/7), Vibo Valentia (7/10 and 7/13), Foggia (7/15), and Rome (7/19), plus one further sortie to Naples (7/17) flown in Teggie Ann rather than this aircraft -- though this conflicts with another source describing Ploesti as the crew's first mission, and is not yet reflected in this record's sortie history.
A Romanian pilot, Lt. Anastasescu Carol, publicly claimed to have rammed José Carioca during the raid; research (including contemporary eyewitness accounts from nearby bomber crews) concludes this was wartime propaganda and that the aircraft was in fact brought down by flak.