During a raid on the Ploiești oil refineries in Romania on August 1, 1943 (Operation Tidal Wave), a B-17 named "Old 666" lost its ball turret gunner when the turret's hydraulic fluid ignited. The gunner, Sergeant John J. Garland, climbed out of the turret and sat on the wing struts for the entire return flight — four hours — at 20,000 feet without oxygen. He survived frostbite and severe hypoxia. When the plane landed, Garland was found unconscious but alive on the wing. The ball turret itself had burned out completely, leaving only the metal skeleton. The plane, incredibly, was repaired and flew 11 more missions. Garland survived the war and became a Methodist minister in Ohio. He never spoke publicly about the raid until 2003, when a historian found his unpublished memoir in a church archive in Cincinnati.