"Tokyo Sleeper"

On 2 September 1943, 16 B-25 Mitchells of the 405th Bomb Squadron departed Durand Air Strip to bomb and strafe a convoy of Japanese transports in Wewak Harbor, New Guinea. P-38s joined in top cover, but the enemy fielded barrage balloons cabled to ships, ack-ack (anti-aircraft fire) laid up in curtains of fire and resolute pilots of Tonys and Ki-43 Oscars prepared to ram if their air-to-air gunnery failed. In the foreground is Tokyo Sleeper; the most famous of the 405th Bomb Squadron, Thirty-eighth Bomb Group. The Veteran strafer is shown performing to perfection the role that Pappy Gunn intended.