Army Air Forces pilot identified decades after his death

At the time of the crash, Winger was flying in Operation Tidal Wave, a low-level bombing mission that targeted oil fields and refineries in Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. The goal was to limit Axis powers’ access to fuel. Of the 178 bombers that took off from Libya for the mission, less than 90 returned to Benghazi. Hundreds of airmen died. The U.S. Army Air Forces did not attempt a low-level mission against German air defenses again.

Winger’s remains were not identified after the war and were buried with other Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.

Lieutenant Winger, the pilot of a 44th Bomb Grp. B-24D like those pictured here, was aboard one of 56 B-24Ds shot down on the 1 Aug. 1943 mission from Benghazi, Libya, to Ploesti, Romania.

Until they all are home, we will never forget.