KITS 03/2021

P-39Q-5, 42-20351, Lt. William A. Shomo, 82nd TRS, 71st TRG, 5th AF, Dobodura,

New Guinea, March 1944

William Arthur Shomo was born on May 30th, 1918, in Jeanette, Pennsylvania and joined USAAC (US Army Air Force) in August 1941. Having

completed the training, he was assigned to 82nd TRS belonging to 71st TRG. In the fall 1943 the unit equipped with Airacobras was deployed

to Port Moresby airbase in New Guinea. Crew chief of all aircraft Shomo flew with this unit was S/Sgt. Ralph Winkel who named all airplanes

assigned to him Snooks according to his future wife. William Shomo became famous thanks to the mission flown on January 11th, 1945,

when at the controls of his reconnaissance Mustang he single-handedly shot down seven enemy aircraft, a feat for which he was awarded

Medal of Honor. Shomo’s total score was eight enemy aircraft shot down within 24 hours. In addition to a number of ground targets Shomo

also claimed ten airplanes destroyed on the ground. At least three of them while flying the Airacobra. On January 31st, 1944, together with

Lt. Weber they destroyed Ki-61 Tony fighter and a Betty bomber. On March 13th, 1944, during the raid on Madang airbase he destroyed an

A6M fighter. Airacobra 42-20531 was lost during the ground attack mission in the Hansa Bay area and pilot, Lt.Harrison perished.

P-39Q-1, 42-19467, 46th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF, Kanton atoll, Phoenix archipelago, August 1943

46th FS (originally 46th PS) was formed on Hawaiian Islands on December 1st, 1940, as a part of 15th Pursuit Group equipped, at that

time, with Curtiss P-36 Hawk fighters. It opened its combat score right on the first day of the War in Pacific, December 7th, 1941, defending

the Pearl Harbor naval base against the Japanese attack. In 1942 the squadron was re-equipped with Airacobras and in the spring of 1943

deployed to Kanton atoll in the Phoenix archipelago. Due to the conditions on the island, almost completely lacking the vegetation, new

Airacobras were repainted in the combination of the sand color on the upper and side surfaces while the lower surfaces of the fighters were

sprayed in light blue colors. Camouflage change was an idea of Lt. Benjamin C. Warren, a pilot and unit’s technical officer, who also supervised its application. In December 1943 46th FS left Kanton and after the over-water flight to atoll Makin carried on with the operations until

mid December 1944. At that time its Airacobras carried the Olive Drab coat on the upper surfaces again.

INFO Eduard - March 2021

eduard

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