The Japanese were delighted the runways, and not planes, were hit. They unleashed there 50,000 men and repaired all runways by 8:00 am the next morning, by 8:30 aircraft were taxing for takeoff when the Pacific Prowler and 32 other B-25s rolled in dropping 22-pound parafrag bombs along the rows of parked and taxiing aircraft. Enough aircraft were destroyed so as to prevent takeoff and attack on Port Moresby. Recon photos showed the runways were repaired, so on Aug 18, B-17 and B-24 bombers hit them again with the same result.
This time the Japanese had the runways repaired by 5:30 in the morning and by the time the B-25s arrived at 8:30, many planes had departed for Port Moresby and many more were preparing for departure. The B-25s destroyed enough planes that day that the Japanese had to call off the attack and never again regained the strength to attack McArthur at Port Moresby. From that point to August of 1945, the Pacific Prowler flew between 120 and 150 missions against the Japanese in the Pacific.
More about the Pacific Prowler...
The Pacific Prowler is one of just a handful of B-25 Mitchell Bombers still flying today. The 5th Air Force has no specific information on the Pacific Prowler.
The original Pacific Prowler was built in 1942 and sent to Port Moresby in southern New Guinea (located just north of Australia) in 1943. During the early part of 1943, U.S. and Australian forces had taken the Port of Buna on the coast of eastern New Guinea which deeply wounded the pride of the Japanese.
In March of 1943, the Japanese sent a re-supply convoy to the base at Lea, New Guinea, north of Buna. This convoy of 22 ships was intercepted in the Bismarck Sea and was decimated by B-25s of the 5th Air Force, including the Pacific Prowler. In the two days of attacks, the Pacific Prowler alone sank 4 ships. Post war records revealed the Japanese lost most of a division of men (15,000) in attacks on the convoy.
The Japanese now realized they could not move south or maintain their holdings with a large U.S. base at Port Moresby. Conversely, the U.S. recognized the Japanese in New Guinea with a major base at Wewak could, and would, prevent McArthur from his goal of moving north to the Philippines.
By mid summer of 1943, the two forces were dead-locked. Yamito had been killed by U.S. P-38s, the Japanese forces had been reorganized, U.S. forces held all of southern New Guinea and Japanese forces with four runways at Wewak and 50,000 men held northern New Guinea. Without a forward opening base U.S. fighters could not reach Wewak and Japanese forces could not destroy Port Moresby due to lack of sufficient numbers of aircraft. In august 1943, the U.S. found an abandoned runway in the highlands of New Guinea and turned it into a fighter base.
At this point, the Japanese had 500 aircraft at Wewak and were preparing to attack Port Moresby. On 15 August, Japanese flyers found and bombed the new airfield, 12 hours later it was operational again. On 17 August, at midnight, B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers hit the runways at Wewak, 1000-pound bombs hit all runways and the U.S. felt the runways were knocked out for at least a week.
At the conclusion of the war, Pacific Prowler returned home and went into storage.
The Pacific Prowler II was built in 1944 at North American's Kansas City plant and was accepted for service in the AAF in early 1945. She came out of storage in 1946, and beginning in 1949, served as VIP transport in the new US Air Force until 1958 when she experienced a gear-up landing and was declared as salvage.
She was bought in 1962 by Tallmantz Aviation of Long Beach, CA and began the next chapter of her life as a photo ship for Hollywood. Pacific Prowler has participated in over 80 Hollywood feature films, including Flight of the Phoenix, Catch 22, Around The World in 80 Days and many more.
Our war history comes from a sole survivor of the plane's first 50 missions.
In the 1960s, this plane flew to all four corners of the world to film the Seven Wonders Of The World at low level for Disney Studios for use in their 360 degree videos as seen at the Disney Parks. In the mid-1980s she was sold to Universal Aviation and was operated by Aces High in the UK (as 'Dolly') - being employed specifically to film The Memphis Belle in 1989. She retired from movie-work in the mid-1990s and went into a serious restoration period. In 1996, while owned by World Jet of Florida, her camera nose was removed and the traditional military nose replaced.
From 1996 to 1999 she only flew 60 hours, mostly to air shows as "Girls Rule". By the early 2000s she was renamed "Top Secret", and under the operation of 99th Street Inc. of San Antonio, TX, she hardly flew at all; rather, she languished in disrepair in a falling down hangar. In late 2002/early 2003, Jim Terry purchased and picked up the plane - it took his group two weeks to get it out and running and get most of the hydraulic leaks stopped. From there the plane was moved to Tulsa, OK where students at the Tulsa Tech Center and volunteers got the plane airworthy.
Currently, the Pacific Prowler is being maintained and managed by a group of individuals in Cleburne, TX (the John L. Terry Heritage Foundation) dedicated to bringing visitors a historic opportunity to step back in time and gain respect for this legendary aircraft and for the men and women who gave so much to protect our freedoms.
