BUNDLEC29 Pacific Theatre Warbirds Collection

North American B-25D Mitchell 'Red Wrath' - 5th USSAF - Lt. Col. Clinton L True

Product code: AA35315

The four squadrons making up the 345th BG 'Air Apaches' arrived in Port Moresby, New Guinea during the summer of 1943, routing from Australia, with crews intent on continuing the work started by the 38th BG 'Sunsetters' in using B-25 Mitchells as low flying, heavy hitting strafing gunships. 

Fitted with an additional eight forward firing .50 calibre machine guns, the aircraft of the 498th BS 'The Falcons' would become some of the most flamboyantly presented aircraft of the Pacific War, with the glazed section of their noses overpainted in a green, yellow and red representation of a falcon's head. With all those .50 cals firing in unison, must have made for a fearsome sight, particularly if you were unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of their attentions. 

This distinctive aircraft named 'Red Wrath', was one of the hard-working strafing Mitchells of the 498th BS and made a name for itself whilst leading a raid against Japanese forces on the Island of Rabul in October 1943, one of the first such operations. Piloted by Lt. Col. Clinton L True, 'Red Wrath' flew at the head of a force of 36 Mitchells leaving their base at Dobodura Airfield, with 200 miles of open ocean between them and their target. 

Bad weather forced the mission to be aborted, however, the leader of the B-25 Mitchell force apparently didn't receive the order and the Mitchells pressed on alone. True had a reputation for being a particularly aggressive pilot and wore his 'Fearless' nickname with pride, and whilst it was claimed he simply chose to ignore the order, that was never definitively proven. 

Pressing their attack home with ferocity, once the Mitchells were over the target, they pounded the Japanese airfield complex, claiming at least 22 enemy aircraft destroyed in the air and countless others put out of action on the ground. Only 2 B-25s failed to make the return flight home to Dobodura Airfield.

Individual price: £119.99

Corsair MkII, JT537 - 1836 Naval Air Squadron - Sub Lt Donald J Sheppard

Product code: AA33016

Applying to join the Fleet Air Arm at just 18 years old, Canadian pilot Donald Sheppard made his first operational sorties in support of Britain’s attempts to destroy the German battleship Tirpitz at the end of March 1944. He was aboard his home carrier HMS Victorious as she later traded the icy waters of the North Sea for a new assignment in the Far East, where the Indian Ocean saw Sheppard develop from a talented novice pilot into an air ace, one of only two Canadian Navy aces and the Fleet Air Arm’s only Corsair ace of the Second World War. 

During a hectic period of combat flying in the Indian Ocean, Sheppard was credited with at least four aerial victories, plus a couple more claimed as damaged, shared or probable. One of these victories saw him engaged in a lengthy combat with a Japanese fighter, which saw him giving chase to the enemy aircraft for over 20 miles at 20,000 feet. Once in shooting range, he fired on the enemy aircraft which almost immediately exploded in a ball of flame. However, Sheppard was flying so fast that he didn’t have time to take evasive action and his Corsair flew through the flaming debris, burning his aircraft’s tail and elevators. Thankfully, he managed to nurse his fighter back to HMS Victorious without further incident.

Individual price: £59.99