HISTORY

PAPPY OF THE STRAFERS III

photo: John F. Heyn Collection

THE PAIN AND THE DETERMINATION

Text: Richard Plos

The second part of this mini-series ended with the successful

trials of the first Mitchell modified with the supplemental 0.5

inch machine guns which led to the intense work on rebuilding

more aircraft. They were shortly to be in the action to fully prove

their advantages.

In March 1943, shortly after the first tests

of B-25s modified according to Pappy’s

directives, twelve of these aircraft took

part in the Battle of Bismarck Sea during which they practically destroyed the

whole Japanese convoy with supplies.

During the first fifteen minutes they destroyed four cargo ships, two destroyers

and all returned unscathed to the base.

3rd AG pilots were so excited by the new

airplanes that they did not let Pappy in

any of them and only co-pilot’s seat in a

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INFO Eduard

B-17, which also took part in the mission (in total 130 aircraft participated in it),

was left for him to at least watch how his

“children‘‘ fared in combat. He continued

complaining about this unfair treatment

long after the mission.

Success of the modified Mitchells caught

the eye of the top brass in the USA and

General Kenney was responsible for this

as well since he did not forget to mention Pappy’s share in his communication

with the USAAF Commander, General Ar-

nold. He sent him technical drawings and

asked him to lobby for the manufacturing

of such modified aircraft directly by the

North American Aviation factories. A

little later, while already in Dayton USA,

Kenney met with a group of engineers

and designers from the Air Force Materiel Division who explained to him that all

was wrong, the aircraft had an upset center of gravity, it was too heavy and in fact

could not even fly …” I listened to them as

patiently as I could and then explained

to them that we had modified a dozen

B-25s in this manner and they played a

fairly important part in the Battle of Bismarck Sea. And that in the same manner

another 60 aircraft were being rebuilt in

Australia. Arnold looked at his experts

and then kicked them all out of his office”

recalls General Kenney in his book.

December 2022