"Air Apaches on the Warpath"
by Robert Taylor

When a group of ingenious 5th Air Force engineers installed eight forward-firing .50-caliber machine funs in the nose of the B-25 Mitchell bomber, they converted a very good medium bomber into a devastating low-level strafer which revolutionized the air war in the Southwest Pacific.

Equipped with their new aerial hotrod, pilots and crews of the 345th Bomb Group pillaged and plundered their way across the southeastern reaches of the Japanese empire, neutralizing their airpower on the ground and devastating their vital shipping supply lanes. Strafing and bombing everything in their path, their reputation was such that the very sight of the 'Air Apaches', as they were known, struck fear into the hearts of the enemy, on both land and sea.

Inspired by the legendary stories of the men of the 345th particularly the aircrews who had fought a brutal, bloody war with no quarter asked or given, Robert Taylor has recreated one of their famous missions.

The date is February 16, 1944. Intelligence has reported enemy shipping in the region of New Hanover, a large island west of New Ireland, and 41 strafers from the 345th have joined three squadrons of the 38th Bomb Group to hunt them down. In the foreground the 500th Squadron's B-25, 'Rita's Wagon', having raked the 420-ton Japanese subchaser No. 39 with machinegun fire, has released a bomb which explodes near the stern, probably damaging the steering gear. The air and water is alive with flying shrapnel. A burst of flak from one of the ship's guns rocks the B-25 as it makes its diving pass just above
the masthead, and already there are signs of damage aboard the Subchaser.

Rapidly closing is the next assault as B-25 'Brother Rat' begins a diving attack which will send the hapless Sub-chaser, now out of control onto a nearby reef. The 499th B-25s, following up in the distance will roar in to finish the ship's destruction. In the background the 5460-ton tanker Sanko Maru explodes in flames to complete the success of the attack by the 'Air Apaches'.

Each print in this exclusively small edition is signed by four leading 'Air Apache' pilots from the 345th Bomb Group which places this print in great demand by connoiseurs of the Pacific War. Those pilots who signed are: Lt. Colonel Julian Bird, Major Keith Dougherty, Lt. Colonel Vic Tatelman, and Tech Sergeant Lynn Lee.