PB4Y-2 photo

[B-17Guy]

Wondering what some of you might think of this photo.

It came with a grouping (wings and id's, currently in wing forum).

I am not sure of the M-B designation on the nose, but I am

wondering if it is from a training squadron?

 

Best, John

[Johnny Signor]

It also has a "nose Art" name if you look closly forward , try posting it over on this site , it's a good one for "patrol" birds,

VPNAVY

Johnny

[Third Herd]

One nice thing about living in the middle of the country is various aircraft that fly over. Several years ago, I heard an odd engine noise and looked up from my yard work to see a red and white Privateer fly over on three engines and a feathered prop.

[northcoastaero]

Trying to figure out the MB seems to be quite a challenge. My Squadron/Signal book on Navy Air Colors Vol. 2 1945-1985 has the

following for MB: VP-MS-8 (ex VP-208) MB , VP-8 (VPMS-8). I also looked through three other books and could not find anything.

vpnavy.org is a great website on patrol aircraft. The only MB reference that I could find there are VP-3, VP-26, VP-48. These

squadrons were known by other designations throught their history. Can you tell what the nose art or name is on the aircraft?

[Johnny Signor]

On my PC I enlarged the photo 400% and it almost looks like the Dollar sign and the Number 4 if you turnlean your head to the right , but that's a "Guestimate"

another site you may want to try is this one seeing as the aircraft is a spin off of the B-24

B-24 bestweb.com

B-24 message board

B24.net

Good luck !

Johnny

[northcoastaero]

maritimepatrolassociation.org is another website dedicated to the patrol community. Maybe they can

help.

 

[skymaster]

Recently found photos from a family members ww2 photo album who was a naval aviator . Some of you may enjoy seeing.

 

[B-17Guy]

Thanks for adding to the thread, great photos.

Best, John

[Dave]

Skymaster-

 

What squadron was your relative in?

 

 

Dave

[TLeo]

Really like these old photos. Skymaster, I found a similar photo of Blind Bomber in one of my books..."Above an Angry Sea" listed as from VPB-109. I happen to have their squadron patch. Didn't see anything with those letters, M-B however, B17guy

[skymaster]

My Uncle was in Patrol Bombing Squadron 198 NAVAL AIR STATION Beaufort, S.C. He flew both the PV-1 and PV-2

 

The person in the “BLIND BOMBER” photos is not him and is unidentified.

 

The attached photos are of my uncle.

 

 

[MIFlyer]

Nice shot of the Blind Bomber nose art!

 

I wrote an article for the November 2002 issue of Aviation History, describing the history of VPB-109 and specifically the combat in which Blind Bomber and Hogan's Goat of VPB-109 were attacked by 12 George fighters off the coast of Japan.

 

Hogan's Goat took some damage and had to shut down one engine, but the two Privateers shot down two of the fighters and made it home with some men wounded but no crew killed. A friend of mine was a radio operator on Hogan's Goat; he pulled a Japanese round out of the gearing for the forward turret and kept it as a memento. And incredibly enough, one of the fighters that was in that action is in the USN museum at Penscaola.

 

I think that Blind Bomber may have gotten its name from the fact that VPB-109 was the only unit to use the Bat radar guided missile in combat. They did not have to see the target visually to hit it.

 

Jack Fellows did an awesome painting to illustrate my article. I have been hoping it would be offered as a print or at least on a calender.

 

 

[skymaster]

I came across another PB4Y photo with nose art "Shanghai Lil"

 

[lspellman]

Hi all, in the picture of the v514 Blind Bomber above, it is from VPB-109, the Reluctant Raiders, probably taken in early 1945 on Okinawa. The pilot was "Pop" Warner, probably not him in the picture. Lt Warner was on his 2nd tour in 1945 and pretty sick from malaria or dysentery and had lost a lot of weight. He died within a few years of war's end.

 

The co-pilot was my grandfather Leo F Haas, it's likely him in the picture. I talked to him over the holiday and he admitted there was a "remarkable" resemblance of the nose art to my grandmother Vivian Haas, whom he had just married. He would neither confirm or deny that it is modeled after her...gentlemen don't tell I guess :-)

 

 

There is smaller text below the Blind Bomber logo. It says, "can't see a thing -- ain't lookin for nuthin".

 

With reference to the "Bat" bomb, Leo doesn't recall that his plane was ever loaded with it. Others in the squadron had been. It generally failed due to too much signal clutter interference unless the ship was out in the open. It was also easily subject to corrosion and thus not well-suited to deployment in the Pacific, but there was at least 1 successful mission where the Bat took out ships.

 

There is a wonderful online resource, "A pictorial record of the combat duty of Patrol Bombing Squadron 109". It was scanned in from the Bangor Maine library and is available here: http://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1104&context=ww_reg_his. It has a lot of the squadron's missions and hundreds of combat and leisure photos, including all crew photos.

[Dave]

 

There is a wonderful online resource, "A pictorial record of the combat duty of Patrol Bombing Squadron 109". It was scanned in from the Bangor Maine library and is available here: http://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1104&context=ww_reg_his It has a lot of the squadron's missions and hundreds of combat and leisure photos, including all crew photos.

 

That's a fantastic reference! Thank you for posting it!

[tankerman]

Check out the VPNAVY website run by Nevins Frankel

[BROBS]

great thread guys.

 

really enjoying the pictures, links. and stories.

 

thanks for posting,

-Brian

[lspellman]

After further review and discussion with Leo and my mother, the pilot in the Blind Bomber photo above is not Leo Haas either. Pants, jacket, hat all wrong for him he said. Additionally, the photo can't be from Okinawa (look at the concrete tarmac...duh). Maybe this was a post-war pic after the planes were brought back to San Diego.

 

Anyway, thanks to others for sharing. Leo was amazed to see those 2 pictures, hadn't seen them before. Here's an article the Tulsa World did on him last year: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/ww2veterans/world-war-ii-veterans-remember-navy-pilot-leo-haas-flew/article_c3b8d9f7-4c7f-5e7f-bf9c-6e0476d6575c.html