On August 1, 1943, 178 American Liberator Bombers were sent out from Benghazi with 311 tons of explosives on a 15-hour round trip mission called Operation Tidal Wave. Their mission was to destroy the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. Ploesti produced 60% of German oil and fueled the German war machine. All information the Americans had about the refinery were from old drawings or postcards.
Air Corps Colonel and bomber pilot Jacob E. Smart was selected to plan the attack. They did not have enough bombers to attack high even though the planes used, B-24s, were high altitude bombers. As a result, it was predicted the casualties of aircrew would be 50% or higher. Each man was given a survival kit with a handkerchief map of the Balkans, a twenty-dollar gold piece, ten one-dollar bills, 6 dollars’ worth of drachmae and lire, pressed dates, water purification tablets, biscuits, sugar cubes, and chocolate. Jesse wrote fiancé, Dottie Turner, and his father right before they left. Both letters told loved ones to carry on if he did not return.
Jesse’s target was the front doors of the Concordia Vega refinery, code named White 2, on the Northern edge of Ploesti. The Germans, however, had broken their code and knew they were coming.
With their plan already shaky, a series of unfortunate events soon unfolded. First, a fuel pump on the Euroclydon malfunctioned, so even if they made it Jesse and the crew would have been forced to land in Turkey where they would face internment. Then the leading planes accidentally turned in the wrong direction. This compromised the entire plan of Operation Tidal Wave. The Euroclydon was then in the leading forces.
They were met with more than 1000 antiaircraft guns stationed around Ploesti manned by skilled Germans, instead of the inexperienced Romanians the Americans were told to expect. During the fight, a large caliber shell exploded in the bomb bay of the Euroclydon, forcing Jesse and the crew to bail out.
Thirty-nine planes had taken off from their base camp in Benghazi, Libya and only 34 made it to the target due to malfunctions in the journey. At the end of the battle, there were 15 planes left. Jesse was witnessed bailing out, but any of the crew who survived did not see him afterwards. He was officially missing in action.