Crew Roster · Personal File
Worthy A. Long
Pilot · 330th Squadron
1st Lt. Worthy A. Long was the pilot of his aircraft on the Ploesti mission of 1 August 1943. He is referenced in E&E Report No. 1617, which documents the fates of his crew following the crash landing near Ploesti.
After the crash, bombardier Norman C. Adams reported seeing Long at a first aid station alongside the co-pilot, tunnel gunner, and himself. Long was subsequently captured by Romanian forces and held as a prisoner of war.
Prisoner of War
Sortie Log
1 CATALOGUED SORTIE
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
The aircraft was badly shot up by anti-aircraft fire over Ploesti on 1 August 1943. Two engines were knocked out and fire broke out in No. 1 engine. The crew did not bail out; instead the aircraft crash landed. Upon impact it began burning. Only the nose section, wing tips, and vertical stabilizers survived — the rest of the aircraft was reduced to ashes. Six crew members survived the crash landing. The tail gunner (Havens) was killed in the turret before the crash. The engineer was pulled from the wreckage by the bombardier, Adams, but died of his wounds later.
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