jonjac
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July 31, 1942 - A Little Bit Of History.
The 3rd Bomb. Group arrived in Brisbane, Aust. Feb. 25, '42 ready to enter the fray. Just one problem, the powers that be failed to provide any aircraft for them. During Mar. they recieved 24 A-24 Dive Bombers that were headed for the P.I., but never got any further than Java. They were pulled back and put into our 8th Sq. They pulled their lst mission Mar. 31 headed for Lae. The weather forced them to hit a secondary target, where they droped some 500 lb. bombs on an airstrip. A rather inauspicious start for a Group that would go on to 41 consecutive months of combat duty. The A-24 was no match for the jap zeros. On JULY 31, the last seven took off on a mission, only 2 came back. And so ended the service of the A-24 in the S.W. Pacific.
Jack Heyn, Photo Section
3rd Bomb. Gp. 5th A.F.
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Hemiman
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Re:July 31, 1942 - A Little Bit Of History.
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 8th pilot Dick Launder over Lae.. 
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mbee53
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Re:July 31, 1942 - A Little Bit Of History.
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As you may know, this was discussed in the book "Operation Plum", as the 3rd Bomb Group inherited these planes from the 27th Bomb Group. Sorry if I am preaching to the choir. I believe they also received B-25's from a shipment to the Dutch?
The 3rd BG really did a great job later in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea.
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25Kingman49
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Re:July 31, 1942 - A Little Bit Of History.
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jonjac
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Re:July 31, 1942 - A Little Bit Of History.
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Mark;
You are right about the B-25s. Col. Davies, Gp. C.O., got wind of 25 of them sitting in Melbourne belonging to the Dutch, but they had no pilots to fly them. Davies flew down with 24 pilots and came back with 25 B-25s. To this day we're not sure wheather they were begged, borrowed or stolen. At any rate they were split between the 13th and 90th Sqs. Pulled their first mission April 5 (Easter Sunday) to Gasmata on New Britain, and caught the japs completely by surprise. Very succesful mission.
Jack Heyn, Photo Section
3rd Bomb. Gp. , 5th AF
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mbee53
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Re:July 31, 1942 - A Little Bit Of History.
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That was a great movie Kingman. Thanks for sharing it.
Jonjac: After losing all their A-24's, what did they replace them with?
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Hemiman
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Re:July 31, 1942 - A Little Bit Of History.
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Mark..
I don't believe all of the 8th Sqdn A-24's came from the 27th. Buzz Freeman told me about assembling A-24's which would have taken place after the 27th had arrived in the Pacific.
After the July disaster, the 8th did get a small amount of A-20's and the flying personnel were used by the 89th (combined) at Kila. The mechanics worked on the -20's that rotated back to Charters Towers from Moresby. They were then shuffled back north to Kila. The 8th started receiving B-25's in the spring of 43'.
Bill
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mbee53
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Re:July 31, 1942 - A Little Bit Of History.
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Hemiman:
Actually, I they did get all the A-24's from a batch of 54 planes that were supposed to go the 27th Group in the Philippines. The 27th BG's personnel arrived in the Philippines on 20 Nov 1941, less the A-24's, which were left behind in Hawaii. This shipment was joined to the Pensacola convoy, which was still at sea when war broke out on 8 Dec 41. The convoy destination was changed to Australia, and arrived on 22 Dec 41. American personnel began erecting these planes immediately but found them lacking important parts. It took several months to get enough parts to put half these planes in working order. Only the pilots from the 27th group were transferred to Australia from the Philippines. The ground crews were converted to infantry and fought until surrender at Bataan.
The 3rd Bomb Group was meant as replacement for the 27th, because they had ground crews and equipment the 27th didn't. Note that the 27th group actually was activated on 1 Feb 1940 from personnel of the 3rd group and the two units trained together at Barksdale Field, La. and Savanah AAB, Ga. The 27th group was the first Air Corps unit trained to use dive-bombers.
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Hemiman
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Re:July 31, 1942 - A Little Bit Of History.
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Mark..
Does any shipping list exist that has the s/n's of those birds?? I have the Guild diary which lists all the 8th's A-24's and their dispositions. Would be great to compare!
Bill
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mbee53
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Re:July 31, 1942 - A Little Bit Of History.
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Hemiman
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Re:July 31, 1942 - A Little Bit Of History.
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Part of the Guild Diary A-24 list .... Thanks much Vickie! 
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