Propwash ...I'm guessing this one was taken by a crewmen in the tail gunner's position?
As already mentioned above this is a photo made with an automatic camera, mounted in the tail of the plane, flying in the middle of the flight of 3 B-25. I don't remember anymore, but it seems to me there were some more photos, before the crash.
IMHO the parafrags visible weren't dropped by the crashing plane, but by the a/c, from which the photo was made. The parachutes are at the level of the empennage of the crashing one (the nearest one is even higher than the wingtip!) and they are to the right of the plane. This would be impossible if they were dropped from the same plane.
They are not blown away, just falling down after being dropped. In the narrative it's stated that the crashed a/c was the #2 wingman, so the a/c flying in the middle (the one of Maj.McClure) dropped the bombs. Compare the position of the bombs above with the photo below, which was made from the a/c dropping the bombs. The bombs are in line with the direction of the a/c.
Take a look at the white smoke coming out of the damaged root of the left wing. The smoke trace appears to be quite long. When I tried to see more in the zoomed photo years ago (but I couldn't), I decided that the plane was probably hit before crossing the street - I think it's a street where the trees and the long houses are. The AAA could be somewhere outside the factory, beyond those fences, but not immediately in the zone visible under the plane. I agree with the fact that the pilot was killed immediately and this was eventually the main reason why the plane crashed/hit the ground soon after.
post edited by catch 22 -