B-25 Mitchell gunship aerial victories

[knusel]

Good afternoon Geoff,

the PBJ flew 7% of the missions of the Marines and dropped 17% of the bombs that the Marines dropped in WW2. I have the OSPREY volumes about it but haven't read it yet.
The B-25 gunship claims of the USAAF were not processed like the claims of fighter pilots, were they ?

Best greetings from Switzerland,

Michael

[bearoutwest]

Hello Michael,
Not surprised by the stats about reasonably high bomb % for the PBJ. Marine bombing aircraft were PBJ/B-25s (2000-lb load), SBDs (1000-lb), Vindicators (500-lb, usual), F4F (200-lb), F4U (500, 1000, 2000-lb ???). The PBJs did a lot of long-range missions, shipping searches, shipping strikes, night-intruders on airfields, and late in the war, rocket attacks.
I was a little surprised that there were zero claims for air-to-air. Would have expected the occasional encounter based on the airfield intruder attacks and shipping raids.

I'm not sure about the USAAF way of processing claims, my own research is in RAF/RAAF and Commonwealth areas; but I would be surprised if it was any different for the USAAF between fighter groups and bomber groups. It should all revolve around the post-mission report, and the calibration of intel data regarding claims, witnesses, etc.
I would expect the fighters to have more gun-camera film. The Mitchells had fixed forward cameras which didn't work very well (not for the USMC PBJs anyway, a lot of shipping claims couldn't be verified).

'Avagoodweekend,
...geoff

[knusel]

Good evening Geoff,

my gut feeling tells me that the zero-tally of the PBJ has rather administrative than military reasons. The USMC Avengers flew fewer missions than the PBJ's but had a tally of 19. I think the PBJ crews were not encouraged by their superiors to submit claims.

By the number of kills that his crew claimed the B-25 top scorer was Ralph Wallace, wasn't he ?
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=50300

Have a good start into the new week,

Michael

[bearoutwest]

One of the few mentions of air-to-air claims by B-25 strafer-gunships, from the bookazine "Forty of the Fifth" by Michael Claringbould.
B-25D-25 Mitchell "Mitch the Witch", #42-87293, 17th Recce Sqn/71st TRG

25-Feb-1944, during a regular reconnaissance shipping patrol of the Bismarck Sea, this B-25 encountered a Ki-21 armed transport. The B-25 pilot made a firing pass with his 6x fixed 50-cal machine guns, while the observer used his nose-mounted flexible 50-cal. As the pilot flew over the low flying Ki-21, he banked to allow the turret and waist gunners to fire. After multiple passes, the Ki-21 crashed with both engines on fire.

The B-25 crew: 1Lt B.A. Sill (pilot), S/Sgt R.F. Burns (turret), 2Lt W.J. Petersen (co-pilot), T/Sgt E.F. Duffy (waist), 2Lt J.H. Gunn (nose), S/Sgt G. Dixon (waist).


...geoff

[bearoutwest]

Originally Posted by knusel

Good evening Geoff,

By the number of kills that his crew claimed the B-25 top scorer was Ralph Wallace, wasn't he ?
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=50300

Sorry Michael, I don't have your same enthusiasm for cataloging numbers like that. My interest is just curiosity as to whether the Mitchell strafers made any air-to-air claims.
Seems only a few, and from the multiple passes required to down an "unarmoured" Ki-21 Sally, perhaps air-to-air gunnery skills by the pilot, wasn't practiced greatly.


...geoff

[knusel]

Good afternoon Geoff,

do you consider to acquire this one?:
https://www.amazon.com.br/B-25-Mitch...a-f477d47705b9

Have a nice week,

Michael

[bearoutwest]

Michael,

In England they talk about the RAF and the Battle of Britain. I'm Australian, in WW2 discussions, we talk about Kokoda and the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Here's a couple of books in my collection (random links from the internet, not actually mine for sale):

https://www.amazon.com.au/Battle-Bis...39988602&psc=1

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/35472404...iABEgKZrPD_BwE


I don't have the one you mentioned, but when it's on special.... it might be absorbed into the collection.

...geoff

[knusel]

Good evening Geoff,

I didn't not know that the Englishmen and the Aussies prefer the history of the battles before their doorsteps, respectively. But it makes sense. My favourite topic is an interdisciplinary one: I gather the top scorers of each aircraft type. Therefore, my favourite aces from Down Under are Arthur Coningham (DH5 top ace), Clive Caldwell (P-40 top ace) and Elwyn King (Snipe top ace).

The B-25 was also used by the USSR but the documentation of its aerial victories is rather sketchy.

I wish you a good start into the weekend,

Michael

[BruceMk11]

Coningham, whilst born in Australia, was raised in New Zealand and identified as a Kiwi. I read that in one of Dennis Newton's books.

[knusel]

Yes, and he served with New Zealand forces in Africa first.
Do the passports/personal files of these days distinguish the different nations of the British Empire or were all British subjects indicated as British?