Review: The Grim Reapers At Work in the Pacific Theater: The Third Attack Group of the U.S. Fifth Air Force, by John P. Henebry. Missoula: Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, 2002

When Pearl Harbor was bombed, John Henebry (1918-2007) was a young lieutenant just out of flight school. On 2 September 1945, he was a full “bird” colonel standing on the deck of the USS Missouri watching the Japanese surrender ceremony. His memoir, written late in life, recounts his experiences during the war. There is a brief opening chapter describing his childhood interest in aviation and education at Notre Dame University, which included civilian pilot lessons. After Notre Dame, he joined the then US Army Air Corps and received his wings in March 1941. He arrived in Australia in September 1942. Henebry spent most of the war with the 3^rd Attack Group, including serving as its commanding officer.

 

The book is written in a narrative and episodic framework. It is a fascinating account from the inside of the legendary Fifth Air Force efforts in General Douglas MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific Theater. The above painting by Michael Hagel dramatically depicts the massive raid upon the Japanese stronghold at Rabaul on 2 November 1943. “I was serving now as Group Operations Officer and helped coordinate the mission, determining targets, number of aircraft, flight patterns” (p. 114). He then led the 3^rd Attack Group in his B-25 gunship “Notre Dame de Victoire.” He provides a vivid recollection of this low-level attack on the Japanese transports and warships in the harbor of this heavily defended target.

On their attack run, Henebry’s crew bombed two Japanese transports. In return, they took some hits from the heavy cruiser Haguro. However, their troubles were just beginning,

 

As we moved toward the Solomon Sea and home, a Japanese fighter plane, one of the 125 to 150 estimated to be in the skies, jumped us. Our rear turret guns had been knocked out by the Haguro. So we had no defensive fire and not much speed because of our damaged rudders and tail section. Our assigned fighter cover was busy at higher altitudes and could offer no relief to our immediate problem. Those pilots probably hadn’t even seen us being jumped.

            The Japanese fighter made a pass from our rear and hit the left engine hard. He knocked it out quickly. He must have been firing 20 millimeter guns, standard equipment for Japanese Navy fighters. (p. 120)

 

The Zero then pulled away and abandoned the attack. Henebry surmises that its pilot either thought the B-25 was done for or was too far from base and needed to return. Henebry then describes his remarkable piece of flying. He piloted the severely damaged aircraft to the nearest friendly held island across 300 hundred miles of ocean at wavetop level. The plane was so crippled that he had to ditch in the surf a few hundred yards from Allied held Kiriwina Island. They were quickly picked up by a US Navy PT boat. The crew was fine with only a few minor injuries. The “Notre Dame de Victoire” is probably still at the bottom of the Solomon Sea.

In any event, the 3^rd Attack Group soon exchanged their B-25s for the A-20 ground attack bomber. Their A-20s would also receive modifications as low-level strafers. It had a crew of only two – pilot and rear gunner.

 

On the lighter side, Henebry tells the story of a B-25 named “Fat Cat.” One day in New Guinea, three B-25s were written off as damaged beyond repair. In such cases, the aircraft were usually cannibalized for spare parts. But, not in this case. Instead, these three aircraft were used to build one flyable B-25:

 

“Fat Cat” also was a squadron team effort—sheet metal workers, instrument specialists, engine geniuses. Master Sergeant John B. Chesson was a major spark plug. Murry Orvin specializing in crew chiefing airplanes. Sergeants Meredith Bryant and Bill Hackett urging the men on. I was Squadron Commander and cooperatively turned a blind eye. The resulting “Fat Cat” became the only stripped-down hot rod B-25 in the Pacific theater. (96)

 

The “Fat Cat,” sans bomb racks and machine guns, was ready to fulfill her primary mission: flying tired aviators down to Australia for a little R and R. And then, returning loaded with booze and steaks. Needless to say, the “Fat Cat” did not officially exist on any Air Force inventory. Eventually, the “brass” got wind of the latest Fifth Air Force exploit and retired the “Fat Cat.”

Henebry made the new US Air Force his career. He served as an Air Division commander during the Korean War. He retired as a Major General in 1976. This lavishly illustrated memoir is worth reading for anyone interested in the topic.