{"id":993,"date":"2024-06-24T14:52:33","date_gmt":"2024-06-24T14:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghosts-of-war.com\/?p=993"},"modified":"2024-06-24T14:52:34","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T14:52:34","slug":"the-last-flight-of-the-tulsamerican-croatia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ghosts-of-war.com\/?p=993","title":{"rendered":"The Last Flight of the Tulsamerican, Croatia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Tulsamerican. Photo sourced from 461st Bombardment Group (H)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was early afternoon on a typically warm summer\u2019s day, with a light sea breeze ruffling the turquoise crystal of the Adriatic. Tied up to the dock at the small village of Rukavac, on the island of Vis, Croatia, the dive boat rocked gently. The three technical divers, stripped of their dry suits and multiple thermal layers, rested in the shade, whilst a couple of my fellow recreational divers headed to the caf\u00e9 which overlooked the small harbour. Having eaten the lunch I had brought with me, I was feeling contentedly drowsy. We had spent the morning diving on the steamship Brioni<\/em>; a team of four of us floating across the top of the 70 metre long vessel at our depth limit of 40 metres, whilst the ‘techies’ descended further to explore inside the wreck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After sufficient time had elapsed to allow us to dive again, the ropes were cast off, and the owner of the operation, Andi, eased the boat from Rukavac’s dock. It would take us about 15 minutes to reach our second dive spot: a World War Two B-24 Liberator bomber resting on the sea bed 40-52 metres down. The \u2018Tulsamerican\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the summer of 1944, the last of over 950 B-24 Liberator bombers, serial number 42-51430, was completed at the Douglas Plant in Tulsa, Oaklahoma. The workers at the factory had contributed to the cost of the aircraft through buying war bonds, and the airframe carried their signatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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‘Saluting a job well done, Douglas employees bid farewell to the ‘Tulsamerican’, the last B-24 to roll off the Tulsa Assembly line, August 1944<\/em>.’ Photo sourced from General Aviation News<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At each crew position within the aircraft, a scroll had been left which read:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘To combat crew members of this Liberator bomber! This war plane is the last of hundreds of its type assembled by employees of the Douglas Aircraft Company Inc. at its Tulsa, Oklahoma plant. Henceforth these employees will turn their efforts to the production of an important tactical bomber of new design. In sending this last B-24 bomber to combat, employees who helped build it, who’s names are signed hereon, also so fit to buy it through the purchase of war bonds. Let this weapon help bring sooner the peace for which we so earnestly work and pray.<\/em>‘1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Douglas workers also completed the B-24\u2019s nose art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tulsamerican nose art and factory worker’s signatures. Photo sourced from The National WWII Museum New Orleans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Tulsamerican was sent to Italy to fly with the 765th<\/sup> Bomb Squadron, 461st<\/sup> Bomb Group, 15th<\/sup> Air Force, based at Torretta Airfield. Torretta was part of the extensive complex of airfields which surrounded the town of Foggia, located 125km north-west of the Adriatic coastal city of Bari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 17th December, 1944, the ten man crew of the Tulsamerican took off from Torretta to bomb the oil refinery at Odertal, near the Polish\/German border. On board were Lieutenant Eugene Ford, Pilot; Lieutenant Russell Landry, Navigator; Staff Sergeant Charles Priest, Flight Engineer; Lieutenant Val Miller, Bombardier; Staff Sergeant John Toney; Lieutenant Vince Eckland; Staff Sergeant Walter Maclemore; Staff Sergeant Edward Steelandt; Seaman 1st Class Casmir Walenga, Armed Guard; Staff Sergeant James Hazel.*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, the now 94 year old Val Miller was interviewed for a NOVA documentary about the fate of the Tulsamerican and her crew. Lt. Miller has a kindly face, and is wearing a sky blue shirt and braces for the interview. He recounted that fateful day in 1944.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We sent every plane that we could fly. It was a large, large bunch of planes. From not only where we were, but from other divisions in the area.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We were told we would not have any fighter protection. We had to go through very thick clouds, and suddenly we were attacked by a whole bunch of German fighter planes. There was no conversation but there was a lot of activity. People were manning their guns. We shot down two or three of them, but they kept attacking and attacking.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with the The Oaklahoman<\/em> newspaper in 2014, Val Miller stated: ‘I guess they figured we were already severely damaged, or they were out of fuel or something. I don\u2019t know.’<\/em>2<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After sustaining damage to one of the four engines, a fuel tank and the aircraft\u2019s hydraulics, 21 year old pilot Lt. Ford decided to turn back. At this point, he would have to nurse Tulsamerican over three hours home to Italy. Lt. Miller, then 22 years of age, dumped the B-24’s bombload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Pilot didn\u2019t want to bail out. He knew if we did we would be taken captive by the Germans, and more than likely, they would kill us.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We decided we\u2019d try for that little island of Vis. It\u2019s a small landing area, but it\u2019s a place where we had had planes fly down to land there before.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We already had one engine shot out. I guess probably we were about 200 feet off the water.<\/em>3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point in the NOVA interview, Val Miller half smiles, and there is a twinkle in his eyes. ‘It looked like we were going to make it.’<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we were chugging along trying to get to that little landing strip, two more engines quit. The only warning we had was the pilot said \u2018we\u2019re going in\u2019.<\/em>3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lt. Miller believes he was knocked out during the impact, and regained consciousness when water flooded the cockpit. After escaping the mangled wreckage of the aircraft, he inflated his life vest and floated to the surface. A broken leg made swimming towards land impossible, so all he could do was float helplessly in the freezing water of the Adriatic. (To give some idea, data available online put the December average temperature of the Adriatic at Split, 64km\/40 miles NNW of Vis, at 16-17 degrees Celsius\/61-63 Fahrenheit.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Val Miller believed he floated on the surface of the Adriatic for hours. ‘There wasn’t much I could do except pray, I was doing a lot of praying<\/em>.’3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘I didn\u2019t remember seeing anything around me. As I was just floating there, suddenly there\u2019s a little boat…that came up by me. I have no idea who they were to this day<\/em>.’2<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was two local men who pulled Lt. Miller from the water on that winter’s day in 1944, and took him to Vis where his leg was treated by a British doctor. Considering his experiences, he had been very lucky to survive the last flight of the Tulsamerican. It was during his time on the island that he found out that Eugene Ford, Charles Priest and Russell Landry had not been so fortunate, and were missing, presumed dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wreck of the Tulsamerican remained undisturbed on the bottom of the Adriatic for the next 66 years, until it was discovered by Croatian divers in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We motored towards the dive site, passing low scrubby islands of sun bleached limestone which reminded me of Australia\u2019s north-west coast. As we neared the our destination, Andi gave us a briefing whilst his business partner Aniska took the helm. He explained that a buoy line anchored to the sea floor was located roughly half-way between the two parts of the wreck; the wing and nose at one site, and the tail and rear fuselage around 100m away at the other. Depth would restrict us recreational divers to visiting the wing and fuselage section only. Andi told us we would descend at an angle away from the buoy line, taking the most direct route to the Tulsamerican.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We watched as the tech divers donned their thermals and dry suits, then slipped on their harnesses. Looking like astronauts in their complex tangle of gear, they staggered to the edge of the catamaran and plunged into the water. Then it was our turn, and soon we were bobbing on the surface next to the buoy line. Although I was excited about diving on the Tulsamerican, the feeling was tempered by the fact that we were visiting a war grave, where three young aviators had lost their lives. Andi checked we were all ok, then give us the \u2018thumbs down\u2019 signal to begin out descent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The water temperature was a comfortable 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit) on the surface, but dropped quickly as we sank into the deep blue. Following Andi, we could soon make out the form of the Tulsamerican. Although battered by German fighters all those years ago, and again when it hit the water, the aircraft was still an awesome sight. Standing out on the wreck was the starboard landing gear, lowered in preparation for the landing at Vis airstrip that was never to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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