B-25 Cracker Box - Okinawa July 1945

okidonn said:

Looking for information on the B-25 in this photo, the notes about the photo say "Col. Steele's B-25" and are from Okinawa between July 1945 and Dec 1945. Trying to find out what group this plane was with and who Col. Steele was? I added the info in red to the photo. Info on the 7th AF indicates that the 319th Bomb Group was in Okinawa, and want to know if this was one of their planes.

View attachment 185309

Click to expand...

EwenS said:

This aircraft was an old B-25D model (the upper turret is aft of the wing - see second photo by barneybolac) so is, by that stage of the war, most likely to have been a BG/BS hack, with USAAF units having moved to the B-25J model. That was certainly done by 5th AF B-25 units which were also on Okinawa in the same timeframe.

While the 319th BG was on Okinawa from July - Dec 1945 it was equipped with the A-26 Invader, so a B-25 seems unlikely even as a hack.

A better candidate unit in 7th AF would be 41st BG. That unit took its B-25 to Okinawa in June 1945. It moved back to the Philippines in Dec 1945. But the Group CO was a Col. Bywater. Maybe another senior officer in the Group?

Or maybe someone at 7th AF HQ?

Click to expand...

barneybolac said:

Strange they replaced mission markers with the stripped off camouflage on an old D model.

Click to expand...