DESIGNED TO BE A LAND-BASED, medium altitude bomber, the B-25 was tasked with one of the War’s most spectacular missions. On April 18, 1942, 16 heavily laden B-25s took off from the USS Hornet’s pitching deck and headed towards Japan. Led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle, these aircraft and their brave crews proved that Japan was susceptible to the U.S.’s wrath. After the success of that mission, the B-25 was tapped to fly a variety of bombing and strafing raids. Nowhere was the B-25 more dominant than in the South Pacific Theater. Capt. John Bronson survived flying the B-25 Mitchell in the South Pacific on an even more dangerous mission than Doolittle’s. Here is his story.
Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, thousands of young men around the country enlisted in the service. I had never flown before, and I thought that joining the Air Corps would get me into the fight most quickly. A year later, I was awarded my Gold Bar and Wings, and I was assigned and posted to the 345th BG at Columbia Army Air Base, Columbia, South Carolina. The 345th comprised four squadrons: the 498th, 499th, 500th and the 501st. I was assigned to the 498th as a copilot on the North American B-25.
Our crew consisted of a pilot, a copilot, a navigator-bombardier, an engineer, a radioman and a turret gunner. We all trained as a team; there wasn’t any time for displays of ego, and there was no “I” in “team.” We all had a job to do no matter what the sacrifice. After practice bombing much of South Carolina and
