Warbird Information Exchange

Always nice to come across obscure little stories from the war years. Great stuff and great to remember.

A Marine Mitchell of VMB-423 and the "Oklahoma Scroll" ... (From "The American Warrior")

"One of the PBJ’s that VMB-423 took into battle had been paid for by a war bond subscription campaign started by school kids in Oklahoma. By the time it was finished, some 35,000 kids had taken part in the effort. The children had all signed their names on a sixty-five foot long scroll that the unit brought with them to the Solomons. On one of the squadron’s first missions, they dropped the scroll on the Japanese during a bombing raid over Rabaul."

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Don't recall seeing PBJ's loaded up with guns like these two. VMB-611 outfit. (it's actually deceiving as the wingtip is positioned between the regular guns in the nose area to give the look of several guns)

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A little 'then' and 'now' (in at least the "MB-11" anyway).... congrats to that CAF crew getting the 'now PBJ' up and at it.

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And another "MB-11" (fifth back)


Fourteen of VMB-611's PBJs on the USS Manila Bay, enroute to Pearl Harbor. Also three Martin JM-1s

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And even another "MB-11" with a very sad ending.

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Whatever 'male' mechanics can do to a PBJ, 'female' mechanics can do just as well .... here's proof


PBJ-1D. 42-87197 became Navy BuNo 35114


A group of U.S. Marine Corps Women's Reservists work on a PBJ, at Cherry Point, N.C., March 9, 1945.

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And a batch of 3-tone PBJ's ...


Massed Marine Mitchell Bombers (PBJ-1J)


Marine PBJ-1J's

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This is a stateside PBJ showing before and after barrier testing results I believe. Result? .... not good.

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One last photo to annoy you with.

Anyone know when and where this PBJ was / is?

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Guess I should add this one. Most of us have probably seen this photo before.

Tragic

R.I.P. hero's ...

LOSS OVER TOBERA: With its port engine hanging following an anti-aircraft hit, the PBJ of First Lieutenant Glenn W. Smith (BuNo 35143) goes down over Tobera on 5 May 1944. The aircraft crashed a short time later killing all seven of the crew. The aircraft's wreckage was located in 1949 and the remains of at least one crewmen was recovered and returned to the United States for burial at Arlington National Cemetery. During the late 1990s the site was rediscovered and yielded additional remains. In 2000 these remains were also recovered and returned to the United States for burial.

Pilot 1st Lt. Glenn Willard Smith "Smitty", O-21855 (MIA / KIA) Inglewood, CA
Co-Pilot 1st Lt. Ralph Milton Jones Jr., O-25395 (MIA / KIA) Griffin, GA
Navigator Sgt. John Slingluff Little, 452483 (MIA / KIA) Norristown, PA
Radio Sgt. George Dewey Herbst, Jr., 489222 (MIA / KIA) Pottstown, PA
Gunner Cpl. Michael F. Mazepa, 425132 (MIA / KIA) New York, NY
Gunner Cpl. Ferris Robert Gillen, 421734 (MIA / KIA) Muncie, IL
Passenger Cpl. Robert S. Bleir (MIA / KIA)
Crashed May 5, 1944

Photograph: U.S. Marine Corps (Courtesy of J.W. Leggio)

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Every photo I have ever seen of a PBJ notes it as a USMC A/C. Did the USN ever operate the type at an operational squadron level?

JDV
www.fuselagecodes.com

The last picture was taken at the old USMC Air Museum at Quantico VA probably ca 1990. I believe that this was a USAF B-25 painted to represent a PBJ.

Thanks Mark, as always, a wonderful thread.

Regarding the barrier test, if the airplane were manned, I would have to think the pilot would be in bad shape. I'm assuming the prop grabbed the barrier and swung it like a yo-yo. The detail in the photo is excellent, but the scene is sobering.

Regarding the static display of unknown location: the engines have already had the exhaust mods so I'm wondering if this was a PBJ or just a TB-25 painted to resemble one? I'm sure the experts will add to the story ...

Finally, I had not before seen the image of the PBJ going down after the AAA hit and I was deeply moved by it. I don't equate flying an air conditioned, GPS equipped C-130 in the typically permissive environment of Iraq/Afghanistan to what these guys went through, but I will say that there is a common human thread here. I would assume I'm like many of you, having had my nose in airplane books from an early age and having built countless models (with very accurate paint schemes ) and hung them with cottonball smoke trails, re-creating air battles across my bedroom. But there is an element of false glory in this and a reason why many vets would rather not talk about the war. What I see and feel in this photo has more to do with the inexplicable adult feelings of being very far from home and the sometimes desperate kinship man feels for his air machine. Your airplane is the magic carpet that carries you safely over treacherous land and sea; it delivers you from places where enemy or Mother Nature would just as easily see you dead. To see these guys in the struggle of their lives, doing all they can with a wounded airplane, and knowing that, in the end, it still wasn't enough, is like a punch to the gut and evokes some of the feelings I remember from looking down from above and thinking that "nowhere down there is safe". This photo, to me, is not about paint scheme, turret variant, or waving flag but about comrades, hope, courage, fear, determination, loss, and lost futures for these veterans and their families. As you said, RIP Heros, your sacrifice for our nation is a debt that can never be repaid.

Ken

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

Thanks Ken for one of the very best posts I've read in a while. Couldn't have stated it better and it's no surprise it came from a guy like you. Thank you kindly as always.

I've had the fortune (or misfortune) to view all the old airplane photos I've posted over the years as more that neat looking old airplane photos. I see the humans that were involved much more now and I understand their feelings of "not wanting to talk about it" much better now. (my dad's service included). I'm sure others do too, but I've become almost obsessed with trying to show, through posting photos, just how much sacrifice, service and freedom these men and women gave to all of us. It dominates my thoughts and if it didn't I would have walked away from these asinine internet forums long ago. I've stated many times that a guy like me has no business playing around on internet forums and I really shouldn't be here dealing with the random jack*sses that show up from time to time, but the veterans and families of veterans (of whom many have contacted me personally for help and to show appreciation) are too much for me to quit on them. Any idiot out there who thinks I'm looking for attention, accolades, trophies or ribbons or whatever can take a hike (and yes I get a few real idiotic PM's from knuckleheads stating as much) ... unreal

It's a shame that more people don't realize, or think more, about why we have the freedoms we have in this country and who sacrificed everything so we could have those freedoms. Most who frequent this forum seem to get it and it's always nice to see.

So thanks again Ken, and others who feel the same way.

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From United States Navy Aircraft since 1911 by Gordon Swanborough and Peter M. Bowers, pages 381-382:

“To operate the PBJ-1s, the US Marine Corps (not the Navy) established a number of bomber squadrons, commencing with VMB-413 in March 1943 at Cherry Point, NC.”

“Late in 1944, one specially-strengthened and hooked PBJ-1H was used for catapult launch and arrested landing trials on the USS Shangri-la, but Navy (as distinct from Marine Corps) use of the Mitchell was limited to a few aircraft for development and testing of equipment, up to 1948.”

Hope that helps.

Randy