Completed 2025 Collection of Stephen Donovan Concept drawing for oil painting
Hethel-based B-24J Liberators of the 389th Bomb Group head towards a target deep in Germany, circa autumn 1944. The closest ship, nicknamed “Sweet and Lowdown,” flew with the 389th’s 567th Bomb Squadron after a stint as “Herk’s Jerks” with the 492nd Bomb Group.
This project was commissioned by the family of S/Sgt. Richard ‘Dick’ Donovan. Dick was an armorer/gunner on ‘Sweet and Lowdown’ and flew 35 missions from June 1944 to March 1945.
The 8th Air Force’s 389th Bomb Group, nicknamed “The Sky Scorpions,” arrived in Europe in the early summer of 1943. Under the leadership of group commander Colonel Jack Wood the 389th and its four squadrons were assigned to the “Mighty” 8th Air Force operating out of England. However, their reputation during combat training in the US as an efficient and well-run outfit led to their selection as one of the five bomb groups chosen to stage out of bases in North Africa and participate in Operation Tidal Wave, the first major strike on Ploesti slated for August 1, 1943. The raid would involve a round trip of over 2,700 miles and nearly 14 hours in the air.
As Nazi Germany's main natural oil source the refineries at and near Ploesti, Romania were responsible at the time for one-fourth of Germany's entire fuel demand. The plants were especially important as a source of fuel for the Eastern Front campaign. The least combat-experienced of the five groups - the Ploesti mission was only their seventh operation - the Sky Scorpions were tasked with hitting the complex at Campina, the northernmost objective. Their brand-new B-24D Liberators had slightly better range than the older B-24s of the other groups, and as such they "lucked out" in getting the farthest target ... all to themselves.
389th pilot 2nd Lt. Lloyd H. "Pete" Hughes, Jr., a 22-year-old Louisiana native and Texas A & M student, was posthumously awarded one of five Medals of Honor for the mission, an Air Force record for a single operation that stands to this day. For their part the overall outstanding performance of the group under extremely difficult circumstances near the target earned them a prestigious Distinguished Unit Citation.
In September the group left North Africa for England and bedded down at their permanent base at Hethel in Norfolk. They went on to complete 321 combat missions and dropped over 17,500 tons of bombs. Group gunners claimed 209 aerial victories, plus 31 probables and 45 damaged.
Completed 2025
Collection of Stephen Donovan
Concept drawing for oil painting
Hethel-based B-24J Liberators of the 389th Bomb Group head towards a target deep in Germany, circa autumn 1944. The closest ship, nicknamed “Sweet and Lowdown,” flew with the 389th’s 567th Bomb Squadron after a stint as “Herk’s Jerks” with the 492nd Bomb Group.
This project was commissioned by the family of S/Sgt. Richard ‘Dick’ Donovan. Dick was an armorer/gunner on ‘Sweet and Lowdown’ and flew 35 missions from June 1944 to March 1945.
The 8th Air Force’s 389th Bomb Group, nicknamed “The Sky Scorpions,” arrived in Europe in the early summer of 1943. Under the leadership of group commander Colonel Jack Wood the 389th and its four squadrons were assigned to the “Mighty” 8th Air Force operating out of England. However, their reputation during combat training in the US as an efficient and well-run outfit led to their selection as one of the five bomb groups chosen to stage out of bases in North Africa and participate in Operation Tidal Wave, the first major strike on Ploesti slated for August 1, 1943. The raid would involve a round trip of over 2,700 miles and nearly 14 hours in the air.
As Nazi Germany's main natural oil source the refineries at and near Ploesti, Romania were responsible at the time for one-fourth of Germany's entire fuel demand. The plants were especially important as a source of fuel for the Eastern Front campaign. The least combat-experienced of the five groups - the Ploesti mission was only their seventh operation - the Sky Scorpions were tasked with hitting the complex at Campina, the northernmost objective. Their brand-new B-24D Liberators had slightly better range than the older B-24s of the other groups, and as such they "lucked out" in getting the farthest target ... all to themselves.
389th pilot 2nd Lt. Lloyd H. "Pete" Hughes, Jr., a 22-year-old Louisiana native and Texas A & M student, was posthumously awarded one of five Medals of Honor for the mission, an Air Force record for a single operation that stands to this day. For their part the overall outstanding performance of the group under extremely difficult circumstances near the target earned them a prestigious Distinguished Unit Citation.
In September the group left North Africa for England and bedded down at their permanent base at Hethel in Norfolk. They went on to complete 321 combat missions and dropped over 17,500 tons of bombs. Group gunners claimed 209 aerial victories, plus 31 probables and 45 damaged.