At Clark Field on January 7, 1945, the primary target was enemy aircraft on the ground. The attack force struck in two waves in a huge X pattern: B-25s from the 345th Bomb Group and two squadrons from the 312th were in the first wave; then the remaining 312th squadrons and Havocs from the 417th […]
On October 10, 1944, 18 Red Raiders B-24s loosed 45 tons of high explosives on installations at Balikpapan’s Edeleanu Plant and paraffin refinery. Explosions and fires created vast columns of smoke and in a matter of minutes the entire area was blanketed in a pall of smoke, interspersed with the bright flashes of exploding bombs. […]
A Betty bomber being escorted by BETTY’S DREAM of the 499th Bomb Squadron on August 21, 1945 after the surrender delegation met with Allied officials at Manila. Read more about this on our blog or in Warpath Across the Pacific.
A brand new 43rd Bomb Group B-24 in a ditch after a tire blew out on landing at Seven Mile Airdrome. Although no one was badly injured, much of the fresh food that was on the plane did not fare well. This story can be found on our blog and will be published in Ken’s […]
A fireball of burning gasoline boils up from the fatal crash of 1/Lt. Nirdlinger’s B-25 on the hillside above Dodinga Village on August 15, 1944. This story can be found on our blog and in Warpath Across the Pacific.
A man inspects the wing damage on Ed Larner’s A-20 after all the tree chunks were cleaned out. This story can be found on our blog and will appear in Harvest of the Grim Reapers Volume I.
On September 25, 1942 1/Lt. Bill Pittman and his crew made an emergency takeoff to escape a Japanese air raid on Horn Island, but his B-25, SUICIDE’S FLYING DRUNKS, collided with an oncoming P-40 and crashed at the end of the runway. Above is a view of the twisted wreckage of SUICIDE’S FLYING DRUNKS. This story is published on our […]
During the first two weeks of February 1945, the 22nd Bomb Group repeatedly bombed Corregidor Island in Manila Bay to soften it up for a combined airborne and sea invasion on February 16th. This photo shows the results of one of these attacks. Note the large bomb explosion at center. This photo can be […]
For men so far from home, the highlight of August 1944 was the Bob Hope USO show. Started in 1941, United Service Organizations met the recreation needs of military personnel on leave in the States, but it was not long before the shows entertained men at stateside bases as well. Following America’s entrance into World War […]
B-25J-22 #44-29350, with 1/Lt. James McGuire at the controls, is seen trailing smoke and fire moments before it hit the water just short of a small ship in Yulin Bay off Hainan Island on March 30, 1945. Pilots who observed the crash reported that there was no possibility of survivors, but both McGuire and […]