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| USAAF 5th AF 345th BG 500th BS |
Pilot 1st Lt George I. Davis (survived) Co-Pilot 2nd Lt Clifford H. Blake (WIA, survived) Radio SSgt Angelo Del Buono (survived) Engineer SSgt Fred W. Ellard (survived) Gunner SSgt Jack R. Skinn (survived) Crashed February 21, 1944 Aircraft History Built by North American Aviation (NAA). Constructors Number 87-8204. Delivered to the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) as B-25D-5 Mitchell serial number 41-30039. Ferried overseas via Hickam Field then across the Pacific to Australia. Modified into a B-25D-1 strafer variant at the 4th Air Depot at Garbutt Field in Townsville. Wartime History During March 1943, assigned to the 5th Air Force (5th AF), 345th Bombardment Group (345th BG) "Air Apaches", 500th Bombardment Squadron (500th BS) "Air Apaches". Nicknamed "Bugger Off". Assigned to Peterson and crew chief Rapp. On November 2, 1943 off from Dobodura Airfield (APO 503) on a bombing and strafing mission against Rabaul. Over the target, the crew observed the crash of B-25D "Miss Ellen" 41-30039 and photographed the fiery explosion moments after the crash. Mission History On February 21, 1944 took off piloted by 1st Lt George I. Davis on a mission against two Japanese light cruisers off the northwest of New Hanover Island. Shortly after take off, the objective was changed to a convoy in the same area. The formation included B-25s from 345th BG and 38th BG but due to bad weather caused the fighter escort to turn back. Only fifteen B-25s from 500th BS and 501st BS managed to reach the target. The bombers managed to find a break in the weather and this B-25 strafes and bombs Kokai Maru with their two bombs exploding nearby then turned to strafe an escort but passed over a gunboat and was hit by a machine gun fire that entired the cockpit and radio wounding 2nd Lt. Blake with fragments of metal and knocked out cockpit instruments. Damaged, this B-25 pulled out of formation and waited for other bombers and attempted to reach Dobodura. Returning the left engine faltered and ran away and would not feather and turned toward Finschafen Airfield in hopes of landing. Descending from 700' the bomber ditched and skipped twice roughly 30 miles southwest of Finschafen. Fates of the Crew During the ditching, each of the crew sustained minor injuries in the ditching and were unable to deploy the main life raft and instead used two smaller life rafts but they were partially swamped by the weight. The crew were able to deploy the emergency radio and the balloon antenna and for four hours as the crew cranked tried to signal for help. Overnight, they could see searchlights at Finschafen and fired flares to no avail. Rescue On February 22, 1944 at dawn, an A-20 flew directly overhead and spotted a flare the crew fired and circled once. At noon, the crew saw a ship approaching and fired a flare towards the vessel. After 19 hours at sea the entire crew were rescued by HMAS Paluma and later transferred to a U.S. Navy mail courier then put ashore at Cape Sudest and then back to Dobodura. References USAF Serial Number Search Results - B-25D-5 41-30061 Warpath Across The Pacific (1996) pages 136-138 (February 21, 1944), 391 (500th BS, 41-30061), 439 (index Davis) Contribute Information Are you a relative or associated with any person mentioned? Do you have photos or additional information to add? Last Updated October 3, 2024 |
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