FIFTEENTH AIR FORCE RAID ON PLOIESTI WWII DOCUMENTARY RONALD REAGAN 75212

You fougt the wrong enemy…

excellent video, cheers for uploading it! They did forget to say what a beating the P-38s took on 10 June 1944 when Romanian fighters were already up in the air when the Lightnings arrived, and jumped them big time. 17 P-38s never came back that day (from the 82nd FG and 1st FG). Saluting pilots from both sides!

This is why we are still here now

I have this book..they lost alotta ships over those oil fields.. Rockefellers built refineries there..Bombed them with planes that were powered by Standard products produced in America. Acceptable losses for John D; But not for the men that were lost over them; or the families that lost loved ones that may have worked for standard before the war...what an ironical bitter sweet connection we have with oil and war..

No disrespect to all of the courageous airman that took part on those raids . but this is pure American propaganda . The first big raid by low flying B-24's achieved nothing . Fact is that within a week Oil production increased and at a huge cost of airman and aircraft. The second attempt using P-38's as Dive Bombers was another costly failure , 96 Lightnings dispatched with 46 acting as escorts . Some 86 reached the target area , losses amounted too 22 P-38's . An experiment that wasn't repeated . Oddly enough the most effective raid on Ploesti during 1942/3 was by six Russian Pe-2's that shut the refinery down for a month .

45 fighter P38 and many bombers lost over Ploesty in an day. IAR 80 /81 is exelent Romanian fighter!

What an utter disaster !! We lost 30% in Aircrews and Bombers during the Ploesti Raid . 55 Liberators were lost x 10 men , you do the math.

Ploiesti was a rough one ! , 30 % loss rate on that Raid. So was Bremen , Wilhemshaven , Munster , Regansberg , Schweinfurt , Kiel and Berlin , these Men were all Heroes 🇺🇸🙏🏼😔😢

Enough with this Signal Corps. BS Propaganda !!! Those Generals who planned Ploiesti should have all been Court Marshalled for planning this bloodbath of a Raid.

The P38 Lightnings didnt fare much better than the B24s , the Luftwaffe tore into and ripped up the P38s.The Lightning was worthless in Europe , thank goodness for the P47 and P51.

My grandfather killed the most German pilots EVER! A real Hero!


He was a German Luftwaffe mechanic from the ground personal.. A very bad one!!

Films commentator sounds like Ronald Regan

Absolutely everywhere the US military has passed they left disaster behind. We know that the United States of America is the great enemy of mankind ❗❗😱

Don't mess with the US Air Force. Not in any war, skirmish, battle, action.

my grandad was Army air corps, main engineer of the P3. this is a real treat. i cant get over Ronald Reagan, voice actor.

My father was a bombardier/navigator on B17 on Ploiesti (187 sortis) His plane was called "STARPICKER"

My Dad was in the 484th based in Torretta, Italy, he was on a B-24 as a radio operator and did his 50 missions, technically only 37, but some counted double as they were considered very dangerous. He was in from about April 1944 to August, 1944, perhaps shorter. His plane was the Ol' 45. A few months after he left his plane was shot down, never heard of the casualties. I lost my only uncle on a B-17, not sure if it was 43,44. He was also a radio operator, he was my mother's brother. He graduated from high school at 14 and a half, cannot imagine what a good life he probably would have had. In my father's company there was a German American but Nazi sympathizer. He was planting bombs on some planes. He was caught, tried and executed by firing squad, probably isn't a record of it in the war records. When my father came back to the states, by boat, he worked at a base in Madison, WI. His only job was to hand out weekend passed. When he came back on a Friday when the war ended, he went back to his factory job here on the next Monday here in CT, raised 5 children, wisest man I ever knew, I wish I learned better. Some of you probably heard of the 50/20 when vets could get $20 a week for 50 weeks. he didn't go that route.

My grandfather was serving in anti aircraft artilery during ww2 in Ploiesti. He was a Pole living in Bukovina region and in 1944 was conscripted to Romanian army as 20 other Polish young men from his village. He said me that American army was warning by radio, before they started to bomb areas. It was strange for me, why they should warn anyone? But he stated it strongly.

Nathan F Twining was born in 1897, joined the army in 1915 as a Private and worked his way up to Lt General when he commanded the 15th AF. He eventually went on to be a full General and Chairman of the JCS. He died in 1984.

Oh man ..out of 48 planes only 22 came back. These Pilots Bombarders were made from something special. Something extra amazing. These men did their jobs,with firm fact that they would most likely be not coming home. Half ….HALF ! Did not make it back. Very sad. So young , so many .
It’s something I cannot stop thinking about it m

"Romanians do their best to make us as happy and comfortable as possible. We no longer call our camp a prison because it is not run like a prison. The food has been good since the beginning and is becoming more Americanized by the day. They have broad views and try everything we suggest” (Lieutenant W.A. Kine);
"I am in excellent condition and perfectly healthy. We are treated really well, more like guests, not like prisoners. We're just locked in" (Lt. James W.Stone);
"We are well treated and it is like a vacation for our crazy crew" (Lieutenant John A. Leins);
"The Romanians are exceptionally polite to us and treat us better than their soldiers" (Lieutenant Frederich C. Mee);
"I fell in love with Romania. It is a very beautiful country, with almost everything you want, from forests to rivers" (Lieutenant Ros N. Buzzard);
"I am in a prison camp in Romania and they treat us excellently. I do not say this because they tell us so, but because it is a camp like you have never read in any book or newspaper" (Lieutenant Harold W. Brazier);
"Every Sunday we have a religious service, which I am grateful for" (Thomas Fallon);
"What amazes me more is that even though we are legally at war with this people, they still don't care, or so it seems. Even the gendarme who arrested me arrived with an air of business, greeted me and called me comrade, shook my hand in a very friendly way and said he was sorry he had to search me for the gun" (Lieutenant Jackson F. Dunn);
"We were treated as honored guests by the Romanians who caught us and even after we were handed over to the Romanian military authorities, we were treated with camaraderie and goodwill" (Lieutenant Jimmy P. Robinsson);
"All our days pass in the same way. Breakfast at 8, lunch at 12 and dinner at 6. We can walk around the garden from 10 - 12 and from 4 - 6 p.m. The food is good. We also have a small canteen that prepares cakes, candies, etc." (Louis Falvo);
"Romanians, to my great surprise, do not love war. They treat us well, they give us 3 good meals a day and clean housing" (Sergeant Bernard Artz);
"Our treatment is very good. In fact, I am still puzzled by the way we are being treated” (Lieutenant Frederick L. Modorin);
"The Romanians treat us very well and I can't understand why we bomb their towns" (sergeant John v. Szezun);
"We are detained by the Romanian government, which complies with the Geneva international rules for the detention of prisoners of war. It provides us with medical care and other things for our good living” (Lieutenant Roscoe H. Wilkes);
"I am in a Romanian hospital; they have the best European medical equipment here and the world treats us exactly as if we were their own. You can be sure that no one is twisting my hand for saying this. We eat the same food that soldiers and civilians eat. You must know that we are prisoners of the Romanians, not of the Germans. This is a great advantage in my favor” (James E. Mann);

Romanians' attitude towards prisoners: The civilian population and the Romanian authorities showed feelings that the American and British aviators did not expect. With few exceptions, most of them declared that after parachuting, as soon as they found out that they were Americans and not Russians, the villagers "stopped any molestation" and took them to their houses where they "sat down at the table, they gave them something to eat and drink, they talked with them, they gave them a small supply of food, after which they informed the gendarmes and handed them over". Otherwise, they expressed thanks for the way they were treated and asked "not to be handed over to the German authorities".

I read ‘The Forgotten 500’ about the rescue of downed USAF crews from Yugoslavia. Fascinating stuff covering this period.

My best friends father growing up would tell us about his time as a Bombardier on a B-17 as part of the 15AAF. (Foggia Italy) Lt. Howard Lindley Cox and he stayed on in Italy a bit after the war because they still need some Americans until all the Aircraft and such was gone. Because of him I joined the Air Force right after college for ten years active duty. I cannot imagine the "hell" our boys had to live daily to bring the German War Machine to its knees. He made it home safe and sound and when he would speak of the missions (not very often) we would listen carefully. Never aim for a moving train he told us. The Norden bombsight was not all we made it sound like. He said he hit everything on the ground but the moving train. And that Flak was the greatest enemy in the sky's. They knew where we came from and where we were going so they were very accurate and you had no choice but to stay your course and pray you released your payload and got home in one piece. They were not pressurized like the B-29 and frost bite was always an issue but heated suits did help a bit. I salute all who served in the war. You have my ultimate respect.

After Ploeshti raid, lot of damaged planes had crash landing over Serbia. Operation Halyard - please read about it. And glory to Serbian Chetniks.

Pop was in the 15th out of foccia ity waist gunner b24 had 52 missions according to his diary he flew 4 to the fields 2 we're double landed in ussr rearmed hit the same on way back all heros

Mission Halyard,hello from Serbia!!!

Happy to find this video. My father was a B-17 navigator with the 429th out of Foggia at this time.

American kamikazes

Is the narrator Ronald Reagan??

My father served in the 15th AAF at Bari, Italy (May 1943 to Sept 1945) attached to the 420 Signal Company - deciphering coded messages. I remember and cherish all he shared with me about WW II, his military job, the unit’s mission and his friends. Viewing this video was a real thrill. No son could have had a better and loving father. His example influenced my completing a USAF career, valuing education and hard work, and treating others with dignity and respect.

My father in law was a B24 top turret gunner flying out of Bari. His plane was damaged by flak on the august 10, 1944 mission on ploesti. He and his crew bailed out off the coast of Yugoslavia where he was able to evade capture by hiding with the partisans. He was rescued by a British mosquito boat and survived the war.

Love hearing Ronald Reagan's voice in these old war movies, he didn't know then that he would become one of the best Presidents America ever knew.
My grandfather flew that August 1, 1943, they dropped their bombs and took a direct hit in their right engine, the entire crew parachuted except for one, he was the top turret gunner, my grandfather, the plane crashed in a cornfield near Visina. Freedom isn't free.

Is that the President narrating?

This documentary shows the ugly face of war..we must be united here. Romanians and Americans because a new shadow of misfortunes is coming from the east

The human side of things was that the American soldiers were relatively well treated

my father respected twining as a commander

Did USA ever asked romanians for forgiveness ?

My father was a gunner in a B-24 with the 455th based out of Cerignola, Italy. He flew missions over Ploesti on July 15, and August 10, 1944. His 50 missions were from July 6, 1944 to November 4, 1944. He told me that his pilot was named “Milk Run Naler.”

Trump found guilty of all 34 counts!!!!yeah!!!!! Thanks to all that served.

Is it known who wrote the script? That was some powerful writing.

The Gipper on narration!

My German Grandfather was part of that Balkan Luftwaffe. 3./SG151 in Panchevo Yugoslavia. They were mostly a training Geschwader with dozens of types of aircraft as they sort of were a conglomeration of specific aircraft for training certain pilots. They did cross over from the JU87 to the FW190 in mid / late 1944 probably because of these raids and trying to stem the bomber onslaught..
On the flip side my American Grandfather was employed at Kelvinator in Lansing Michigan making the prop and hub assemblies for the B-24. Props were shipped to Willow Run.

My Dad was in that earlier spring raid on Ploesti that he mentions...shot down in April of that year. Thanks to a local family he and his copilot were rescued and returned to Italy. He had survived Pearl Harbor and then survived Ploesti raids also....so grateful! Whenever you can visit the WWII museum in New Orleans. Well worth the visit!!

Mă ta took from Romania sheep wool gypsy's hats . You come in Romania to destroy and kill . Thank to Romanians that you escape alive.Nobody call the Romanians gypsies. Shame on you because you have no knowledge of history.

Those aren't gipsy hats but peasants hats...you are misleading people about România cultural

My dad flew P38 in 96 squadron 82FG 15AF Foggia. Lots of Ploesti raids plus Anzio