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Technical Sergeant Bernard Mechanic was a gunner/radio operator with the 376th Bomb Group 9th Air Force. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal for his actions during Operation Tidal Wave on August 1, 1943, which was a raid on the Ploesti oil refineries. Due to navigation and pilot error as well as German aerial defenses, this raid suffered devastating losses, including 440 crew members killed and an additional 220 taken as prisoners of war.
NASM.2016.0003
Mechanic, Bernard
bulk 1940-1945
Mark Machanic, Gift, 2016
0.1 Cubic feet ((2 folders))
National Air and Space Museum Archives
This collection consists of thirty-eight black and white photographs, mostly snapshots, relating to Sergeant Bernard Mechanic's service with the 376th Bomb Group, 9th Air Force. The images include the following: Consolidated B-24 Liberators in-flight; images from his R&R leave to Tel Aviv; noseart; and images of Winston Churchill, Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, and Field Marshall Archibald Wavell. There is also one graduation certificate for the Aerial Gunnery and Fire Control School at Wendover, Utah.
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376th Bomb Group Photography [Mechanic], Accession 2016-0003, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Aerial operations
Aeronautics
Consolidated B-24 Liberator
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs