Eighth Air Force Project:
Ploesti Diorama

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   On August 1, 1943, one hundred seventy eight B24 Liberator bombers left American airfields in Libya heading for axis oil fields near Ploesti, Romania. A daring low level attack would hopefully cripple the oil fueling the Nazi war effort. A navigational error dispersed the bomber force and cost the element of surprise and the attack became a whirling confusion of aircraft crossing in all directions and altitudes. Despite the loss of over fifty bombers, oil production was scarcely disrupted.

   The veterans of one of the participating bomb groups had waited for fifty years to memorialize their comrades. With the opening of the new Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah, Ga in 1996, the time had arrived. The 44th Bomb Group contacted the Museum with the idea of a large diorama depicting the raid. The Museum Director in turn called IPMS/Atlanta.

   IPMS/Atlanta had worked with the Museum before, creating the massive Deenethorpe airfield diorama featured in IPMS Journal 10/3. Several months of meetings, phone calls and internal discussions with the Chapter led to an agreement to build a nine foot by twelve foot diorama in 1/48 scale depicting the attack on target White Five, the Columbia Aquila refinery by aircraft of the 44th, led by Medal of Honor recipient Col. Leon Johnson.

The aircraft models had already been donated, our task would be to create the burning hell of an oil refinery under attack. Unlike the earlier diorama, with its many vignettes and small details, this model would have a single focus- the drama of large aircraft flying through the smoke and fire at extremely low level.

The 44th supplied a detailed scale map of the refinery structures and a series of photos taken from Col. Johnson's aircraft during the raid. With this information and other photos from dozens of books, we began the long task of interpreting the data and forming a plan.

   As with the earlier model, we fashioned a jigsaw puzzle of plywood for the base of the diorama. Seams fell along roads and through empty sections. After priming and painting with latex, black paint was misted over grey to produce scale asphalt. A few tar stripes added texture. The earth areas were painted dark brown and the scale plan drawn in. Our data included details of bomb crater locations and we selected few to include in the diorama. (Remember, most of the bombs had not yet exploded) A router removed a 4-5 inch circle to 1/2 inch depth at each site, then Celluclay was used to finish sculpting the crater. After touching up with brown paint, the earthen areas were covered with Woodland Scenes chopped foam, with the craters receiving more detailed coloration.

   Although there are no refinery "kits" available, the Plastruct catalog covered most every detail piece that would be required. More than a dozen tall refinery towers were built up from 1 1/2 or 2 inch tubing detailed with multiple fuel lines, ladders, walkways, hatches, and valves. Two dozen smaller, simpler towers were built with the same technique. Several boiler houses were constructed from sheet styrene and attached to tall smokestacks. Similar construction produced other buildings and shacks.

   To build the seventeen 25 or 32 foot diameter storage tanks, we sliced PVC pipe of the appropriate size  (six or eight inches) , topped them with a shallow styrene cone and added details. Fifty foot tanks were fashioned from plex and styrene. Six tanks were also fabricated entirely from styrene and heated in an oven to represent units distorted by flame.

   Surrounding the large tanks were concrete blast walls, circular or octagonal in plan. Additional walls enclosed some smaller tank clusters and snaked around the buildings. Ten inch PVC was used for the round shelters. The rest were constructed from 1/2 inch thick Gatorboard. Gatorboard is dense foam with a hard plastic outer layer. It can be easily cut with power saws, glues with white glue and accepts paint nicely. Exposed foam edges were sealed with multiple coats of latex paint. Photos revealed camouflaged paint squiggles on the blast walls. After some experimentation, these were reproduced with paint markers.

   To add some scale reference, we included two trucks and a kubelwagon from FM Models. Our modelers report these kits to be "challenging" at least. A truck driver is visible cowering under his vehicle, the only person visible in the refinery.

   Railroad tracks border the site so we scratch built two oil cars. Combat reports include mention of flak trains, something we were very interested in showing. Much research failed to confirm any "pop open" cars, but we did find Quad 20mm mounts on flat cars. Gasoline Models produces a fine kit of this gun, leaving us to scratch build the flat cars and a box car to round out the train. Figures to man the guns are still pending, so the flak train has yet to be installed.

   To show some bomb damage, a blasted building is included, along with collapsed refining equipment. Some blast walls are damaged with rubble and dust liberally spread about. The four aircraft models were mounted atop 3/4 inch plex rods set into sockets in the base.

   But the heart of the diorama's effectiveness is the smoke and fire. Eight dense black columns rise nearly four feet, higher than the aircraft. To achieve this, polyester teddy bear stuffing was dyed on the stove. Still only grey, the stuffing was threaded onto brass armatures and sculpted. Each column was then heavily misted with flat black spray paint.

   To represent flames, a two inch diameter hole was drilled through the base. A 25-watt florescent lamp was mounted from below, wrapped in orange lighting gel. A column of smoke was added at each site to complete the effect. The total effect is quite remarkable.

   A year's planning and building led to a smooth installation of the diorama in October, 1998. A few weeks later the 44th held their annual reunion at the Museum and dedicated the model as part of a new Ploesti exhibit.

More Photos from the Installation