20 FLYPAST February 2018
ettling in at Columbia Army
Air Base in South Carolina in
November 1942, the trainee
crews knew they had a lot to live
up to. Nine months earlier, new
recruits undergoing familiarisation
on the USAAF’s latest bomber, the
North American B-25 Mitchell,
were asked to volunteer for a
hazardous mission.
Those who rallied to the call
became the famous ‘Doolittle
Raiders’, flying B-25s off the carrier
USS Hornet on April 18 on a one-
way retaliatory raid on Tokyo. The
air force had begun to strike back
after Pearl Harbor.
The men of the 345th BombGroup followed the same training
regime as their illustrious forebears.
Five months later they moved to
Walterboro, also in South Carolina,
ready for deployment overseas.
At that time the four elements
of the 345th adopted nicknames:
498th Bomb Squadron (BS)
Falcons, 499th BS Bats Outa Hell,
500th Rough Raiders and the 501st
Black Panthers.
The 345th was due to move to
Great Britain, but Major General
George C Kenney finally got
permission to build up his supply
of B-25s in the Pacific. Thanks to
the type’s success in the Battle of
the Bismarck Sea, the word was outthat the Mitchell could succeed in
any theatre requiring medium sized
bombers.
The unit headed west to the
southwest Pacific theatre, becoming
the first USAAF combat group sent
to the area. Initially based at Port
Moresby, New Guinea, the 345th
re-located to Townsville, Australia.
At the Queensland base, the
B-25s underwent a transformation,
becoming formidable strafers. The
ventral turret was removed and
faired over and an extra fuel tank
was added to fill the space. The
‘greenhouse’ nose was removed
and replaced by a ‘solid’ fairing
accommodating eight forward-Hard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed WarriorsHard-n sed Warriors
Warren E Thompson describes the exploits of the 345th Bomb Group the Air Apaches describes the exploits of the 345th Bomb Group the Air Apaches
WORLD WAR TWO PACIFIC THEATRE
Below and right
The 501st BS leading a
raid against the airfi eld
at Dagua on February
3, 1944. Note the large
number of para-frag
bombs going down.
M J EPPSTEIN