B-25 Mitchell / "Air Apaches"

B-25 Air Apaches airplane model. The 345th Medium Bombardment Group, "The Air Apaches" were widely known in the Southwest Pacific theatre. Their brightly painted Falcon (498th Sqdn), Bat (499th Sqdn), Bat (500th Sqdn) and Panther (501st Sqdn) Mitchell B-25J twin engine bombers flew at low level, often at tree-top height. Converted to gun nosed B-25's, with up to 12 forward firing fifty caliber machine guns they were well respected and feared by the Japanese. Used in conjunction with the heavy firepower were parafrag bombs, bombs using parachutes to allow the bomber to move away to a safe distance before detonation.

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