“Smilin’ Jack” in “Unflyable Condition”
“Smilin’ Jack is visible below the pilot’s window of A/C #714 after it was irreparably damaged in a takeoff accident on April 16, 1945. J. M. Hamilton collection, courtesy of John G. Hamilton
Beginning in mid-April 1945, about two hundred 14th Air Force fighters and bombers attacked Japanese targets in areas from southern China to the northern China plain, hitting numerous targets that included bridges, river shipping, town areas, trucks, railroad traffic, gun positions, storage areas, and general targets of opportunity. Among the attack planes were those of the Chinese-American Composite Wing.
The 3rd Bomb Squadron’s mission #112 on April 16 was conducted in cooperation with the 1st and 2nd Bomb Squadrons. Enemy-held Kaifeng was once again the target. Situated in Honan (Henen) Province, about 300 miles north of Wuhan and five miles south of the Yellow River, its railroad yards served as a junction of two vital railroad lines—the Ping-Han running north and south and the Lung-Hai running east and west—that supplied troops down the entire length of the enemy-held corridor.
Participating planes on this medium-altitude mission, led by the 1st Squadron and with four B-25s each of the 2nd and 3rd Squadrons, took off at 0600 from Hanchung. Three veteran H models and one J made up the 3rd Squadron flight. A/C #723 (Wu P. Y., Kuo Y. H., Lee K. T., Kao C. K., Liu CO, and Liang M. H.), followed by #724 (Chen S. C., Hsiao H. T., Huang T. H., Loi M., Chang F. T., and Chung C.), #716 (Chang C. L., Yen C. S., Shen M. C., Chiu H. P., Chang Y., and Shu S. S.), and #720, the J model (Capt. Jack M. Hamilton, FO Barton L. Wherritt, 1Lt. Robert E. Banger, Cpl. John J. DeFabritis, TSgt. Frank T. Jakubasz, and Cpl. Robert G. Hugel) made up the element. The bombers picked up their escort of four P-51s at Ankang, and the formation proceeded to the target in box formation. One of the 3rd Squadron's planes had bomb-release problems and dropped only two of its 500-lb. GPs on target and salvoed six in the town. The remaining aircraft dropped all bombs with an estimated 80% accuracy, resulting in large columns of black smoke rising to 1,000 feet that could be seen from a distance of ten miles. No strafing was done, and no leaflets were dropped due to an exhausted supply. Planes were back down at 1150 and made their way back to home base at Liangshan, with their flight crews accompanied by TSgt. Joseph N. Shock and Sgt. Jack A. Trout. This mission was in coordination with the combined force that dropped one hundred 500-lb. bombs in about fifty major hits that day. Kaifeng was repeatedly targeted until the end of the war, resulting in the eventual destruction of seventy percent of its yards and five warehouses.
On the same date, seven 3rd Bomb Squadron Mitchells were off to blanket Loyang Airdrome with incendiary bombs. Loyang (Luoyang), located at the confluence of the Luo River and the Yellow River in western Honan, is one of China’s oldest and most historic cities. It was a major industrial city and transportation hub held by the Japanese at this time. All bombs went wide to the north and landed in rice paddies. Crewmen spotted ten aircraft at Loyang, seven of them obviously dummies. The other may have been operational. They observed more than seventy-five cars in Loyang’s railroad yards and two trains of twenty-five cars each on the railroad between Loyang and Tungkuan. This was listed in the squadron's operations report as mission #112A, but aircraft numbers and crew lists were omitted from extant records.
Because the squadron had recently lost three planes, 1Lts. Frank P. Pulaski and Willard G. Ilefeldt, with Sgt. Stanley B. Rickman, had left on the twelfth to pick up another new replacement B-25J. They returned on April 17. Ilefeldt, who was also the squadron’s historical officer, noted that as they were landing, they saw A/C #714, "one of our newer planes . . . in a rather unflyable condition on the side of the runway.” The previous evening, the plane was taking off on the Loyang raid when a tire blew out, tearing the undercarriage from beneath it and taking an engine with it. It then slid to a stop a short distance off the runway.
Associated with serial #43-27809 (sometimes written as #43-2709), this A/C #714 was first mentioned in mission reports while assigned to Task Force 34 the previous November, and again in January, when Maj. Chester M. Conrad led the 3rd Squadron element on the successful Hankow Storage Area raid. It appeared in the March 1 squadron photos at Liangshan. Considered to be "the least shot up" of the squadron's B-25s, it had been personalized soon after Capt. Jack M. Hamilton was placed in command as recognition of his expertise as a bomber pilot and his popularity among the men. Dubbed "Smilin' Jack" (hero aviator of the long-running comic strip) because of his cheerful disposition, Hamilton's moniker had been painted below the window on the pilot's side of the cockpit. Although it was designated as "his" plane, other operational officers took it up with equal frequency. No one was hurt in this incident, although the squadron was back down to eight planes. Its reusable parts were salvaged and its Chinese number reassigned to a replacement plane soon afterward.
Read more of this compelling story in The Spray and Pray Squadron: 3rd Bomb Squadron, 1st Bomb Group, Chinese-American Composite Wing in World War II.