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My Grandpa, McKinley Sizemore was interviewed at a vintage bombers display at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport. He was a gunner and a radio operator in the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber during the early part of 1945. He flew 45 missions with the 500 Bomb Squadron out of the Philippines.
"I'm very, very excited to see this plane again," said McKinley Sizemore, 84, of Keyesport. "It's absolutely great they have these here. There aren't many of them left. I think they are leaving just as fast as (World War II veterans) are." [1]
"Although the B-25 was originally designed to bomb from medium altitudes in level flight, it was used frequently in the Southwest Pacific theater (SWPA) on treetop-level strafing and parafrag (parachute-retarded fragmentation bombs) missions against Japanese airfields in New Guinea and the Philippines. These heavily-armed Mitchells, field-modified by Major Paul Irving "Pappy" Gunn, were also used on strafing and skip-bombing missions against Japanese shipping trying to re-supply their land-based armies. Under the leadership of Lt. Gen. George C. Kenney, B-25s of the 5th and 13th Air Forces devastated Japanese targets in the SWPA from 1942 to 1945, and played a significant role in pushing the Japanese back to their home islands. B-25s were also used with devastating effect in the Central Pacific, Alaska, North Africa, Mediterranean and China-Burma-India theaters." -[2]
References:
1. WWII veterans see vintage planes, tell stories, JENNIFER A. BOWEN, News-Democrat, Aug. 03, 2007
2. B-25 Mitchell, Wikipedia
