History get very muddled over the years. And is distorted by the
 "anointed" as Thomas Sowell calls them.  The obituary of General
 Leon Johnson posted yesterday said the oil refinery at Ploesti was
 "destroyed."  Medals were pass out for the mess that General Ent
 made of the mission.  Here is a bit more history. Jim
 Ploesti
     Site of Rumanian oil fields that covered nineteen square miles
 and supplied one third of all fuel oil needed by the Germans. it was
 the FIRST target in Europe bombed by American aircraft, thirteen
 B-24s led by Colonel Harry A. Halverson, on June 11, 1942. (The first
 in western Europe was July 4, 1942. Jim)
     Ploesti was again attacked by Ninth Army Air Force in Operation
 Soapsuds on August 1, 1943. (This was Johnson's raid. Jim)
 Harry A. Halverson
     USAAF colonel. He was head of project no. 63, a B-24 unit sched-]
 uled to fly to China bur diverted to North Africa in 1942. Halverson
 led the first American attack on a European target when twelve (con-]
 flicts above) B-24s bombed the Ploesti oil field on June 11, 1942.
 Fifteenth Bomber Missions to Ploesti
      The 19th of August 1944 was the twentieth (nineteen by heavies
 and one by P-38s) and last mission to Ploesti by the 15th AF. Fuel
 production was cut to one fifth its potential capacity, with less
 than 150,000 metric tons of crude being handled per month.
 Between the 5th of April and 19th of August, 5479 aircraft attacked
 the Ploesti fields, dropping 13,469 tons of bombs and losses of 223
 aircraft. On the 30th, the Ploesti complex was captured by the
 Russians.
 I might add that five of my 31 missions were to the Ploesti Complex.
 Jim
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             Tennessean can now visit Big Apple.  Jim
             AirTran sets flights to N.Y.'s LaGuardia
     Airtran Airlines announced Thursday its recently approved non-
 stop jet service from Knoxville's McGhee Tyson Airport to New York
 LaGuardia International Airport will begin Monday, Dec 15, with two
 daily round trips and one-way fares starting at $89.
    It will be the first nonstop low-fare jet service from Knoxville
 to the Northeast. AirTran will use Boeing 737 aircraft.
    AirTran's morning flights will leave Knoxville daily, except Sun-
 day, at 6:35, arriving at LaGuardia at 8:30. The evening flights will
 leave McGhee Tyson at 5:20 daily, except Sunday, arriving in New York
 at 7:15 p.m. Morning flights will leave LaGuardia at 9:05 daily, ex-
 cept Sunday, arriving at McGhee Tyson at 11, and evening flights will
 depart New York at 7:46 daily, except Saturday, arriving in Knoxville
 at 9:40.
     The $89 fare does require a 14-day advance purchase, but does not
 require a Saturday night stay, and may be purchased on a one-way
 basis.
 Knoxville News Sentinel 14 Nov 97
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    Safety board is in the spotlight of TWA probe after FBI bows out
     NEW YORK -- November 14, 1997 00:47 a.m. EST -- With the FBI's
 withdrawal from the investigation into the explosion of TWA Flight
 800, the hunt for terrorists and saboteurs has given way to a probe
 of frayed wires and a vapor-filled fuel tank.
     The National Transportation Safety Board begins public hearings
 Dec. 8, but spokesman Peter Goelz said no one should expect an answer
 to the most important question -- what caused the explosion -- any
 time soon.
     James Kallstrom, an FBI assistant director who headed the crimi-
 nal investigation, sent a letter this week to the families of victims
 of the disaster to announce the agency was suspending its probe.
     He said the investigation "has found absolutely no evidence to
 cause us to believe that the TWA Flight 800 tragedy was the result
 of a criminal act."
     So barring some new evidence, one of the biggest criminal in-
 vestigations in the nation's history has concluded with the finding
 that no crime was committed.
     "It is very disappointing that another government agency is
 reporting they do not know what caused this. We are looking forward
 to the day that some agency does know what caused it," TWA spokesman
 Mark Abels said.
     On Thursday, NTSB Chairman James Hall told a congressional com-
 mittee that he hoped a probable cause could be identified by the end
 of next year. Goelz said the agency will continue to draw upon the
 FBI's expertise.
     Bernard Loeb, the NTSB's director of aviation safety, said in-
 vestigators continue to dig into several theories on how enough
 electrical energy might have entered the center fuel tank to touch
 off a blast.
     Loeb said the agency is concentrating on the fuel measuring rods,
 the fuel pumps, static electricity and chafed wiring.
     "None are more important or more likely than the other," Loeb
 said.
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