Strafer “Pappy’s Folly” of the 3rd Bomb Group 41-12437
A large number of B-25C and D bombers were converted into strafers due to the ineffectiveness of attacking Japanese shipping from medium-altitude. The margin of error was significant when dropping bombs from such heights, as the enemy ships could often evade them. The solution was to perform skip-bombing from a height no greater than 250ft, but this method subjected the attacking bomber to intense anti-aircraft fire during the straight-in approach. However, the bomber could continue to its target once the defensive fire from the ship had been silenced by a batch of fixed, forward-firing machine guns. The idea to convert the B-25 into a strafer was proposed by Jack Fox and Maj Paul I. “Pappy” Gunn of the 3rd Bomb Group, and with the support of the commander of the Fifth Air Force, Gen George Kenney, permission was granted to convert one aircraft, B-25C, 41-12437. The modified aircraft had no need for a bombardier and instead featured four 0.5in machine guns with 500 rounds per gun. Additionally, four more 0.5in guns were added in pairs on each side of the fuselage as cheek packs, providing the bomber with a formidable forward punch. Dubbed Pappy’s Folly, 41-12437 was successfully tested and impressed Gen Kenney, leading to the conversion of more B-25Cs and Ds at Eagle’s Farm depot in Townsville, Australia. By September 1943, 175 B-25Cs and Ds had been converted into strafers, with similar modifications being made by the 341st BG in the China-Burma-India area and the 41st BG of the Seventh Air Force in the Central Pacific. The success of these conversions led NAA to incorporate similar modifications into the B-25G and B-25H, with the B-25J being the first aircraft to have these modifications incorporated in the production process.