Great shot of mast-level attack.
Here is the caption:
Douglas A-20G-30-DO Havoc "Tobias the Terrible" serial number 43-9477 of the
89th Bomb Squadron, 3rd Bomb Group, 5th Air Force, pulls out after skip bombing
Taiei Maru off Wewak. Pilot Lieutenant John Soloc's engine was shot out as he
came around to attack; losing power, he elected to continue the attack. As he
delivered his bomb amidships, his wingtip and propeller struck the ship's mast.
The hydraulics were shot out and the bomb bay doors could not be closed. Unable
to gain altitude or speed, the A-20 crashed a few miles away. Soloc survived;
his gunner, John L. Bradley, went down with the plane. After seventeen hours in
the water, he was spotted by Lieutenant John P. "Jock" Henebry of the 90th Bomb
Squadron. A US Navy Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina flying boat picked him up.
Bismarck Sea, March 1943.
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