Captain Gordon Sefton Stevens
Hometown: Virginia
Squadron: 506th Sqdn. 44th Bomb Group(Heavy)
Squadron: 63rd FS 56th Fighter Group
Service # O-792651
Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medal with three Oak Leaf clusters, Europe, Africa, Middle East Campaign Medal with two Bronze Stars.
Ploesti record
Target: Columbia Aquila Ploesti
Air Crew Report Details
Date Lost: 1-Aug-43
Serial Number:42-41013
Aircraft Model B-24M
Aircraft Letter:
Aircraft Name: TROUBLE
Location: Returned to Libya
Stevens graduated from Smithfield High School in 1935. After one year at Wofford College, he transferred to UNC-CH and received his bachelor's degree in 1939. He received his pilot wings and commission in October 1942 and was stationed in North Africa as a B-24 pilot. On Aug. 1, 1943, he took part in the costly raid on the oil fields at Ploesti, Rumania. As a lieutenant, Stevens was the pilot of a B-24 in Col. Leon Johnson's 44th Bombardment Group, which was nicknamed "The Flying Eight Balls." The Eight Balls bombed the refineries at Columbia Aquila and Drazi, flying at low level and under attack from Axis fighters and antiaircraft while arriving over and leaving the target. Of 39 planes that took off on the mission, the 44th lost 17, and in the bombing force as a whole, 89 planes of 163 made it back to base. Only 33 of these were deemed to be in condition to fly. The 30-minute raid had cost the Axis 40 percent of its oil production.
Stevens was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for "distinguishing himself by extraordinary achievement while participating in operations against the Ploesti oil refineries."
After completing the 25 missions (a 26th mission was uncredited)required for rotation, the Capt. Stevens transferred to the 63rd Squadron of the 56th Fighter Group flying the P-47 Thunderbolt fighter. He was killed while on a strafing mission at Tilburg, The Netherlands (Holland)
Missing Air Crew Report:
USAAF MACR#:8993
Date Lost: 18-Sep-44
Serial Number:44-19730
Aircraft Model P-47 Thunderbolt fighter
Aircraft Letter: UN-V (bar)
Aircraft Name: "Pat"
Mission: Strafing at Tilburg, Holland
Place of Death: Thurnich, Grube Furstenberg, Germany
Cause: Anti-aircraft fire
Hometown: Virginia
Squadron: 506th Sqdn. 44th Bomb Group(Heavy)
Squadron: 63rd FS 56th Fighter Group
Service # O-792651
Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medal with three Oak Leaf clusters, Europe, Africa, Middle East Campaign Medal with two Bronze Stars.
Ploesti record
Target: Columbia Aquila Ploesti
Air Crew Report Details
Date Lost: 1-Aug-43
Serial Number:42-41013
Aircraft Model B-24M
Aircraft Letter:
Aircraft Name: TROUBLE
Location: Returned to Libya
Stevens graduated from Smithfield High School in 1935. After one year at Wofford College, he transferred to UNC-CH and received his bachelor's degree in 1939. He received his pilot wings and commission in October 1942 and was stationed in North Africa as a B-24 pilot. On Aug. 1, 1943, he took part in the costly raid on the oil fields at Ploesti, Rumania. As a lieutenant, Stevens was the pilot of a B-24 in Col. Leon Johnson's 44th Bombardment Group, which was nicknamed "The Flying Eight Balls." The Eight Balls bombed the refineries at Columbia Aquila and Drazi, flying at low level and under attack from Axis fighters and antiaircraft while arriving over and leaving the target. Of 39 planes that took off on the mission, the 44th lost 17, and in the bombing force as a whole, 89 planes of 163 made it back to base. Only 33 of these were deemed to be in condition to fly. The 30-minute raid had cost the Axis 40 percent of its oil production.
Stevens was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for "distinguishing himself by extraordinary achievement while participating in operations against the Ploesti oil refineries."
After completing the 25 missions (a 26th mission was uncredited)required for rotation, the Capt. Stevens transferred to the 63rd Squadron of the 56th Fighter Group flying the P-47 Thunderbolt fighter. He was killed while on a strafing mission at Tilburg, The Netherlands (Holland)
Missing Air Crew Report:
USAAF MACR#:8993
Date Lost: 18-Sep-44
Serial Number:44-19730
Aircraft Model P-47 Thunderbolt fighter
Aircraft Letter: UN-V (bar)
Aircraft Name: "Pat"
Mission: Strafing at Tilburg, Holland
Place of Death: Thurnich, Grube Furstenberg, Germany
Cause: Anti-aircraft fire
Captain Gordon Sefton Stevens
Hometown: Virginia
Squadron: 506th Sqdn. 44th Bomb Group(Heavy)
Squadron: 63rd FS 56th Fighter Group
Service # O-792651
Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medal with three Oak Leaf clusters, Europe, Africa, Middle East Campaign Medal with two Bronze Stars.
Ploesti record
Target: Columbia Aquila Ploesti
Air Crew Report Details
Date Lost: 1-Aug-43
Serial Number:42-41013
Aircraft Model B-24M
Aircraft Letter:
Aircraft Name: TROUBLE
Location: Returned to Libya
Stevens graduated from Smithfield High School in 1935. After one year at Wofford College, he transferred to UNC-CH and received his bachelor's degree in 1939. He received his pilot wings and commission in October 1942 and was stationed in North Africa as a B-24 pilot. On Aug. 1, 1943, he took part in the costly raid on the oil fields at Ploesti, Rumania. As a lieutenant, Stevens was the pilot of a B-24 in Col. Leon Johnson's 44th Bombardment Group, which was nicknamed "The Flying Eight Balls." The Eight Balls bombed the refineries at Columbia Aquila and Drazi, flying at low level and under attack from Axis fighters and antiaircraft while arriving over and leaving the target. Of 39 planes that took off on the mission, the 44th lost 17, and in the bombing force as a whole, 89 planes of 163 made it back to base. Only 33 of these were deemed to be in condition to fly. The 30-minute raid had cost the Axis 40 percent of its oil production.
Stevens was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for "distinguishing himself by extraordinary achievement while participating in operations against the Ploesti oil refineries."
After completing the 25 missions (a 26th mission was uncredited)required for rotation, the Capt. Stevens transferred to the 63rd Squadron of the 56th Fighter Group flying the P-47 Thunderbolt fighter. He was killed while on a strafing mission at Tilburg, The Netherlands (Holland)
Missing Air Crew Report:
USAAF MACR#:8993
Date Lost: 18-Sep-44
Serial Number:44-19730
Aircraft Model P-47 Thunderbolt fighter
Aircraft Letter: UN-V (bar)
Aircraft Name: "Pat"
Mission: Strafing at Tilburg, Holland
Place of Death: Thurnich, Grube Furstenberg, Germany
Cause: Anti-aircraft fire
Hometown: Virginia
Squadron: 506th Sqdn. 44th Bomb Group(Heavy)
Squadron: 63rd FS 56th Fighter Group
Service # O-792651
Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medal with three Oak Leaf clusters, Europe, Africa, Middle East Campaign Medal with two Bronze Stars.
Ploesti record
Target: Columbia Aquila Ploesti
Air Crew Report Details
Date Lost: 1-Aug-43
Serial Number:42-41013
Aircraft Model B-24M
Aircraft Letter:
Aircraft Name: TROUBLE
Location: Returned to Libya
Stevens graduated from Smithfield High School in 1935. After one year at Wofford College, he transferred to UNC-CH and received his bachelor's degree in 1939. He received his pilot wings and commission in October 1942 and was stationed in North Africa as a B-24 pilot. On Aug. 1, 1943, he took part in the costly raid on the oil fields at Ploesti, Rumania. As a lieutenant, Stevens was the pilot of a B-24 in Col. Leon Johnson's 44th Bombardment Group, which was nicknamed "The Flying Eight Balls." The Eight Balls bombed the refineries at Columbia Aquila and Drazi, flying at low level and under attack from Axis fighters and antiaircraft while arriving over and leaving the target. Of 39 planes that took off on the mission, the 44th lost 17, and in the bombing force as a whole, 89 planes of 163 made it back to base. Only 33 of these were deemed to be in condition to fly. The 30-minute raid had cost the Axis 40 percent of its oil production.
Stevens was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for "distinguishing himself by extraordinary achievement while participating in operations against the Ploesti oil refineries."
After completing the 25 missions (a 26th mission was uncredited)required for rotation, the Capt. Stevens transferred to the 63rd Squadron of the 56th Fighter Group flying the P-47 Thunderbolt fighter. He was killed while on a strafing mission at Tilburg, The Netherlands (Holland)
Missing Air Crew Report:
USAAF MACR#:8993
Date Lost: 18-Sep-44
Serial Number:44-19730
Aircraft Model P-47 Thunderbolt fighter
Aircraft Letter: UN-V (bar)
Aircraft Name: "Pat"
Mission: Strafing at Tilburg, Holland
Place of Death: Thurnich, Grube Furstenberg, Germany
Cause: Anti-aircraft fire
Inscription
Gordon Sefton Stevens was born on August 27, 1919, in Smithfield, North Carolina, his father, Leon, was 29 and his mother, Ethel, was 29. He had five brothers and two sisters. During WWII, he flew 26 missions as a B-24 Liberator pilot with the 506th Squadron of the 44th Bomb Group (H). Transferring to fighters, he flew P-47 Thunderbolts with the 63rd Squadron of the 56th Fighter Groups whose insignia was "Beware the Thunderbolt." He died on September 18, 1944, in Neuville-en-Condroz, Liege, Belgium, at the age of 25, and was buried there. He had been on his 104th combat sortie when he was killed during Operation Market Garden.
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from Virginia.
