Crew Roster · Personal File
John P. English
Gunner · 409th Squadron
Sgt. John P. English served as gunner aboard B-24D 42-40265 with the 409th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group, on the August 1, 1943 low-level raid on Ploesti. His status is listed as EUS (evaded/unknown status) on the Missing Air Crew Report. No individual casualty questionnaire for English is present in the MACR documentation.
Completed Tour
Sortie Log
2 CATALOGUED SORTIES
01 AUG 1943 — 01 AUG 1943
01 AUG 1943 — 01 AUG 1943
The sorties below are those we have been able to document for this airman, drawn from flight logs, mission records, and archival sources. It is not necessarily a complete account of every mission flown; gaps may reflect missing documentation, transferred assignments, or records lost to time.
8AF Mission
Date
Target
Aircraft
№ 115
01 AUG 1943
Ploesti
B-24D serial 42-40265, assigned to the 409th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group, departed Site #7 Bengasi on 1 August 1943 on a combat mission to the Ploesti oil fields in Romania. The aircraft was lost as a result of enemy anti-aircraft fire during the low-level attack. Anti-aircraft damage forced the aircraft down at approximately 1150pm on 1 August 1943 near the town of Ploesti, Romania. The aircraft crash-landed in flat terrain approximately 5 to 10 miles from Ploesti. Several crew members were seen standing near the aircraft on the ground. The forced landing was confirmed by photographs taken by the 44th Bomb Group, which flew over the same area approximately 15 to 20 minutes later. The aircraft was described as riddled during the low-level attack, with no altitude remaining for any alternative to a crash landing.
Honkey Tonk Gal / Naked Truth, The42-40265
№ 115
01 AUG 1943
Ploesti Oil Refineries
The aircraft was on its second mission when it was struck by heavy anti-aircraft fire and ground machine gun fire approximately eight miles past the target at Ploesti, Romania. The plane crashed at approximately 3:00 PM on August 1, 1943. No crew members bailed out; the entire crew crashed with the plane. The aircraft did not explode on striking the ground. Several enlisted men and two officers were wounded before the crash. Following the crash, all crew members were eventually accounted for and freed except for the bombardier, 1st Lt. J. Little, who was buried at Senia (Sinaia), Romania.
—