Into the Hereafter

"Kills" or "kill" refers to what the aircraft shot down, number of missions and/or bomb runs, sunk or anything else was destroyed by the aircraft. People always ask us to explain the "kill" markings on the side of the aircraft, well since today is your lucky day, you to will know all there is to know about the "Heavenly Body" kills. On the left side near the front there are 38 bomb stencils, (six sets of five and two sets of four) representing the 38 bombing runs the aircraft went on. These could be 38 consecutive days, but not likely. Missions were spread out a bit more and more reasonable time frame would be over a period of many months and in some case for the luckier aircraft, a few years. The B-25C "MITCH THE WITCH” of the 17th Reconnaissance Squadron compiled an amazing record of 200 missions before the end of the war! Next over to the right we have two Japanese "Rising Sun" ensigns representing two Zeros that were shot down, dates unknown. This flag is historically used by Japan's military, particularly the navy. It was first put into use as the naval ensign on October 7, 1889 until the end of World War II. On June 30, 1954 it was re-introduced as Japan's naval ensign and continues to this day. Well what the heck is that thing after the flags? It kind of looks like on of those old fashioned steamroller things I saw in a Tom & Jerry cartoon where Jerry flattens out Tom, anyway that is exactly what it is, minus Tom & Jerry. As the story goes... after the airfield was built, the steam roller was disposed of off in the edge of the airfield out in the perimeter, near the jungle. Whenever the aircrews came back to the base and happened to have some extra bombs aboard, they'd make a bomb run on the steamroller. Well, after a time, a considerable time, nobody was able to hit it, they just managed to blow a ring of craters in the jungle around the steamroller. Finally, the few Japanese that were hiding in the Papua New Guinea jungle thought "enough was enough"; they snuck out one night and painted it a bright yellow. Next thing you know, ol' Heavenly Body came by an blew the steamroller clean into the hereafter! That brings us up to the two ships positioned just aft and above of Heavenly Body. The first ship was either a supply, transport or other non-man-o-war and the second definitely a man-o-war, frigate or destroyer type. No specific dates are recorded or remembered and more than likely these targets were destroyed by the skip-bombing technique developed & perfected by B-25 crews in the South Pacific of the 5th & 13th Air Forces. So now you know the entire known battle history of the B-25J "Heavenly Body".