P47 Thunderbolt

[K Frame]

My guess, too.

The B-24 didn't see a lot of service in the Pacific, but did see quite a bit of service in the China-Burma-India theather.

The B-25, on the other hand, was the closest thing we had to a universal, all purpose aircraft in the Pacific.

Some field modifications ended up with as many as 20 M-2s attached.

[mfree]

They carrier launched quite a few B-25s as well

[Brad Johnson]

Mike and Stickjockey,

In addition to the many B-25's there were more than a few B-24 Liberators in the Pacific theater, along with the patrol variant called the PB-4Y Privateer (a single-tail, long-nosed derivation of the standard B-24 airframe). My high school science teacher was a pilot on a B-24 out of Guam. With it's extended range the Liberator was well suited to the long-range missions in the Pacific.

Mike, you might want to look up more info on the modified B-25 gunships. REAL interesting. With eight (or more) forward facing .50's for strafing runs, these ships were particularly effective at low-level strafing runs and attacks on light marine craft. In addition, there were the B-25Gs that were outfitted with a 75mm M-4 field cannon for anti-shipping duties.

Brad

[K Frame]

Brad,

Yep, I'm familiar with the gunship versions of the B-25.

I came across a late-war picture some years ago that showed a gunship that had been additionally field modified so that it had 20 forward firing .50s, including several hung from each wing. How they did it, I don't know, but it must have been brutal.

[Brad Johnson]

I came across a late-war picture some years ago that showed a gunship that had been additionally field modified so that it had 20 forward firing .50s

Hog hunting would take on a whole new dimension with that kind of firepower. Instant sausage.

Brad

[K Frame]

Oh, and you're right about the Liberator in the Pacific. I don't know why I was thinking that the B-17 was the longer-ranged, but it wasn't.

[Stickjockey]

Brad,

Yes, the B-24 was used in the Pacific along with it's brother, the PB4Y Privateer. However, usually when somebody mentions "highly modified for ground attack," "Pacific Theater," and "WW2," it's a better than even bet they're talking about the B-25.

Just making sure.

[Preacherman]

My father told me about seeing one of these gunship B25's in Australia, near the end of the Pacific War.  It had been sent there for some urgent and secret supply mission (probably short of beer for the officer's mess, or something like that), and had had a minor accident on landing, so that it needed to be repaired before returning to its base up in the Philippines.  So, the repairs were made, and as part of the usual post-repair calibration, etc., it was wheeled out to the shooting range to ensure that all of its machine-guns were correctly bore-sighted and aimed.

The usual procedure was for each gun to be fired individually, with an armorer adjusting it to be on target at a specified distance (usually 250 yards, IIRC) in front of the aircraft.  This particular model had 12 forward-firing .50-caliber machine guns, eight in the nose, and two each in two "blisters" on each side of the fuselage.  Unfortunately, some doofus forgot to switch the firing controls to one-gun-at-a-time...  so when the button was pressed, all twelve guns fired at once.  The target disintegrated into flying splinters of wood and metal frame, and the entire base turned up at the run to see who'd started World War III in their back yard!

[Art Eatman]

Nope, no doubt on that one.  No way a B-25 had a ten-man crew, among other things.  I've been in both a 24 and a 35, on the ground.  Also, back then, I knew the silhouette of every plane there was, from the side or from below.  Did fair at head-on, too.  Knew all the nicknames of the Jap stuff.  We had kids' books with pictures and silhouettes of everything from everywhere.

Anyway, he had a few photos.  Sidebar:  He got back, and three days later we got a telegram from the War Department saying he was missing in action.

The B-25 was a good plane.  At one point, a 75mm cannon was added.  Sorta rough on the airframe.  Not popular.  "Great idea!  Wish it worked!"

My stepfather's brother was at McDill Army Air Corps Base at Tampa, training on B-26s when the war ended.  The motto there was, "One a day in Tampa Bay."  The laminar-flow wing meant a rather high stall speed.

Art

[Brian Williams]

OK this thread needs some pics
that b-25 gunship for instance

[K Frame]

As for pics...



This is one of the middle modification gunships. It has 4 nosemounted .50s instead of the original 2, but still has the 75mm cannon, which was dropped later in favor of even more .50s.

[Brad Johnson]

Yep, the B-26's were a bit unforgiving on sloppy or unwary pilots. It was a fast bugger, but the high wing loaded necessary for the kind of speed it had gave it viscious stall characteristics. The pilots that survived training loved them as the 26 could flat outrun many of the enemy fighters of the day - a mighty handy feature to have!

Brad

[saxman357]

Another B-25 with blister mounted .50's (total of 7 forward on this one):