Son Steve Smith has contributed these photographs, and interview with his father, who was a B-25 pilot in the 5th Air Force, 38th Bomb Group, 71st Squadron. He was downed on 2/15/44 at Kavieng, New Ireland. He was hit by AA fire over the harbor and an explosion ruptured the fuel and hydraulic lines causing a "blow torch" fire. William Smith's Overseas Service with the 38th Bomb Group included the following locations. He is a veteran of 72 missions.

 Buzzing Australian Train
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Flying across the Pacific in a DC-6 and moving across Australia by rail to Townsville then joining 5th Air Force at Charters Towers. Smith was 21 year old at the time. He relates a humorous anecdote about a friend's B-25 buzzing an Australian train.

 17 Mile Drome
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Dense jungle surrounded this Port Moresby strip. Smith recalls one time a crew bailed out only three miles from the base, but it took them a week to get back! Our planes had the top half of the twin tails were painted yellow, hence the Japanese called the 71st "the yellow tailed devils".

 Coastwatcher Supply Drop
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Mr. Smith Describes his most satisfying mission in New Guinea. His plane successfully dropped supplies to Coastwatchers near Rabaul. Bad weather had hampered efforts, and the Coastwatchers were out of food and supplies. The unit had made a few attempts made to drop supplies, but didn’t have much success. Smith's plane was had its bomb-bay full of supplies that he would drop onto a smoke marker. They left Doubodura flying on the deck the whole way. Finally, the clouds broke, and were able to drop on the signal fires. When they got back home, the Coastwatchers had radioed their thanks - they had recovered all the supplies.

 Ditching off Kavieng
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On this mission, flying B-25 "Pissonit" and had Disney's Big Bad Wolf caricature on the nose. After sustaining an AA hit on their 27th mission, they lost an engine and their gear fell out. The plane caught fire. Smith ditched about a mile from the shore and he and 2 others got away from the burning plane, which quickly sunk. The radioman, J.C. Healan, was swept out a lower hatchway on the impact (by the suction) of the plane hitting the water. This was merciful as Healan was behind the fire and had been hideously burned. The tail gunner, Albert Gross, died when he tried to parachute at low altitude to escape the fire. Their liferaft was on fire, so Smith threw out his parachute and the two pilots and navigator clung to it.

 Rescue by PBY Catalina
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Smith was burned from the resulting fire and his leg wounded in the crash. After about two hours in the water clinging to his parachute, they were rescued by a PBY flown by Nate Gordon who rescued a total of 15 aviators that day - 4 ocean landings in ocean swells while under fire. He won the Congressional Medal of Honor for this. Mr. Gordon is alive and well in Arkansas at 82 years of age.

 Cockpit Flak Hit & Dislodged Bomb
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On a ground attack mission out of Biak, Smith's plane was hit by a nearby flak burst from AA on both sides of ridge. When he took evasive action, a bomb became disloged from its rack. After completing the mission, he made the "most gentle landing of his life" and the ground crew carefully made the bomb safe.

Kavieng excerpt from The Forgotten Fifth
Courtesy of Aerothentic Publications
Rabaul was a hot target for the Fifth's strafers, but it is less well known that the strafers suffered their worst combat loss not over Rabaul, but Kavieng. The events of this mission are complex and worthy of a separate chapter in the Fifth's history. Like Rabaul Kenney had decided to neutralize Kavieng with airpower and bypass it on the way to the Philippines. The Liberators had commenced a series of raids against Kavieng's airfield on 11th February 1944, but Kenney decided that his strafers would do a better job of eliminating the township. Grim Reaper A20Gs and Sun Setter & Air Apache Mitchells were given the job. It was surmised that the reception would be hot, but no one could have guessed the extent of the losses which would ensue. The launch began ominously when an Air Apache crashed on take-off at Horanda Drome after losing an engine. The Sun Setters were first across the target, and by the end of the furious attack which lasted fifteen minutes the losses were adverse as they were unforeseen. Three A20Gs had been lost - two ditched and one crashed into the sea off Nusa Island. Three Sun Setter Mitchells had also been lost one exploded into the town whilst the crews of the other two would be rescued after successful ditchings. The Air Apaches came off worst however, and lost four Mitchells. Jack Rabbit Express was hit by AA and tore sideways into a palm grove. There were no survivors. Gremlins' Holiday' ditched after taking hits, and with an illegal passenger, adjutant Bob Huff who had done a deal with the pilot to come along to witness a combat mission firsthand. Stubborn Hellion ran out of luck after taking hits and also ditched fifteen miles from the target. Finally Captain William Cavoli and crew ditched just offshore the target but would be rescued by a Navy PBY. The mission had therefore cost eleven aircraft, but perhaps the more remarkable aspect to the story was the rescue of ditched crews. Circling the area for possible rescues was VPB34 PBY nicknamed The Arkansas Traveller. Her pilot was 'Nate' Gordon, a softly spoken 28 year old lawyer from Arkansas. Gordon's rescue efforts lasted an hour and a half under enemy fire, and when The Arkansas Traveller returned to her base at Finschhafen she unloaded fifteen ragged but grateful survivors as well as her crew of ten. Both the Army and Navy sent in medal recommendations for this determined effort and on 30th July 1944 in Brisbane, Gordon was awarded the medal of honour. The last word on the epic should go to Admiral "Bull" Halsey, who summed up matters succinctly with his telegram sent that afternoon, "Please pass my admiration on to that saga writing Kavieng Cat crew - Halsey".