Corgi 1/72 AA35315 North American B-25D Mitchell, 'Red Wrath' 41-30024, 345th BG, 498th BS, Port Moresby, February 1944

Around 800 of the B-25J variant were produced specifically for this task, replacing the greenhouse nose of the bomber version with a solid nose housing eight .50 calibre machine guns and incorporating additional fuel tanks to allow long distance strike missions to be undertaken. Targeting airfields, shipping, supply dumps and troop concentrations, these extremely hazardous missions were usually flown from an inland direction, breaking away out over the sea, to give them the best chance of avoiding enemy defensive fire.

With groups of two or three aircraft attacking in waves at tree top height and from different directions, strafing with up to fourteen guns each and dropping parafrag bombs as they came, being on the receiving end of an 'Air Apache' attack must have been a terrifying experience.

Helping to establish the fearsome reputation of these attack Mitchells, many of the 345th BG aircraft were embellished with aggressive looking nose artwork, such as the 'Hell Bat' featured on 1st Lt. Charles 'Pop' Rice Junior's 'Betty's Dream', an aircraft which would have an important escort role to perform in the days after the end of the Second World War. It was charged with escorting the Mitsubishi 'Betty' bomber carrying the only official copy of Japan's surrender terms, as it headed for an airfield near Tokyo on 21st August 1945.