B-25C Mitchell Balls O' Fire
310 BG o/s original Capt Phillips

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Balls O' Fire 310BG B-25C 41-13074February 19 2008 at 10:08 PM Phil Marchese (Login philmarchese)
from IP address 71.203.114.46
BALLS O' FIRE

"Fun Helped Them Fight" declared a

January 1948 National Geographic article

with several color plates of World War

II nose art. One of the aircraft featured

is a B-25 and it's aircrew shortly after the

first air attack on Rome. The plane is

named "Balls O' Fire" and her nose is

covered with an attractive cartoon of an

allied soldier dragging Hitler from a

rifle bayonet and numerous bombing mission

symbols. The 50 missions listed by the

navigator's station end with a bold "Rome."

Although ESCI has reproduced the nose art

in 1/72 scale, little has been published

about the plane or its crew. .. Ready for

takeoff!

History. The flight echelon of

the 310th Bombardment Group (Medium)

departed Walterboro, N.C. in late

August, 1942 and assembled at Westover

Field, Mass. There the Group received

54 new B-25Cs of the 3,000 series

(41-13000) before departing the U.S..

Among these planes was an aircraft serial

numbered 41-13074.


In September, the Group began ferrying

these planes across the North Atlantic route

in staggered flights. By December, 1942, all

the planes had reached England and some headed

south to the North African Theater of

Operations. The Group entered the Tunisian

Campaign from French Morocco with an advance

echelon at Maison Blanche, Algeria. The

detachment flew seven missions between

December 2 and the time they rejoined the

group at Telergma on December 21. The reunited

group entered combat on December 30, 1942.

The first group mission was a successful

raid on a railroad roundhouse and marshalling

yard at Sfax. Lt. Carl Phillips of the

381st Bomb Squadron participated in this

mission flying his B-25C, 41-13074. It

was the first for he and that bomber.

Over the next several months, the group

flew sea search missions and attacked

harbors, landing grounds and airfields.

As the missions continued, casualties

were inevitable and replacements began

arriving.

Lt. Joe Carver was among the replacements reaching the group in

March 1943. Joe flew his first combat

mission, a sea search, on March 27;

however, his combat career was cut

short.

Joe lived in a pyramidal tent shared

by Carl Phillips and five or six others.

The tent was heated by a stove improvised

from a 55 gallon drum and fueled by

aviation gas. Early in April,

several fellows gathered around the

stove shooting the breeze and joking

with each other. Shortly before

Carl Phillips joined the gathering, the

stove's fire had been put out. Coming

in from the cold, Carl poured gas into

the hot stove. Flames roared up to the

fuel can in Carl's hands. He flung the

flaming can into the air. The fireball

landed in Joe Carver's lap. Joe

sprang from his cot and dashed from

the tent. Joe ran about 100 feet

before he dropped to the ground and

rolled to smother the flames. Carl,

having run to Joe's aid, beat the

flames with his hands. Before the

flames were out, Carver suffered first,

second and third degree burns on both

lower legs. He was hospitalized for

several months and never returned to

the 310th BG. Although his hands were

badly burned, Carl Phillips did not

require hospitalization. He recovered,

made captain as a flight leader, and

continued to fly missions. His plane was

"Balls O' Fire."

The Group flew its last mission

against African targets on May 8, 1943.

Thereafter the group was committed to

the neutralization of Pantelleri and

support of the invasion of Sicily. The

success of these tactical strikes

provided the AAF an opportunity to plan

a major strategic attack. The objective

was to deprive the enemy all rail

communications running south to Rome

from the north. The maximum effort began

on the morning of July 19, 1943 with

hundreds of AAF heavy bombers attacking

major rail yards at Lorenzo and Littorio.

That afternoon, the 310th contributed

72 planes to the effort bombing the

Ciampino airdome on the outskirts of

Rome. The 381st squadron commander,

Maj. A. W. White flew the mission in

41-13074. The air raid was one of the

most significant of the Italian Campaign.

Besides the strategic achievement, the

mission was the first AAF bombing of the

Eternal City. Apparently, this was also

the 50th mission for "Balls O' Fire."

The plane was being prepared for a bond

tour of the States when photographed

shortly after the Rome Raid. But plans changed.

A replacement crew flew the plane for a dozen and

a half or so more missions. Then it was sent to

the depot to be modified before being returned

to the Group for a second tour with a

different squadron. It crashed soon

afterwards due to battle damage and was scrapped.

Meanwhile, Captain Phillips had completed his

combat tour and rotated stateside. While

returning to Italy for a second tour, Carl

was killed in a landing mishap.

Choosing the Kit. You will want

an early series B-25 which has the

dorsal turret at mid-fuselage as

opposed to an H/J series with the

turret forward of the wing. Injection

molded kits of the early series B-25s

are available in both 1/72 and 1/48

scales. The decals are only available in 1/72,

thus this project is better suited for 1/72 scale.

Testors/Italeri and Monogram 1/72

scale offerings from the late '70s

are generally available while the

earlier Frog/AMT kit is not as easily

found. Both newer kits are good.

Completing the Frog and Monogram

Snap-Tite kits to current scale

modeling standards will require adding

details or kit bashing parts.

The overall shape of the Monogram

kit is excellent and many of its

detail parts are very fine - the

main wheels for example. The kit

is compromised by its snap fit

engineering and by the simplification

or elimination of some detail parts.

For example, the clear parts for

the rear fuselage windows are omitted.

No alternate parts are given so kit

bashing will be required to produce

the C-1 version for 41-13074. If

you use the Monogram kit, you will

need to add an astrodome and a lower

turret. These can be taken from spares

or vacuformed from masters. You will

also need to add a fairing to the tail

skid since the kit's skid is exposed.

The Frog kit also has very good

fuselage shape and seems to have

influenced the Monogram molding,

but it lacks the finesse of the later

offerings, especially in the thickness

of its control surfaces. It does,

however, accurately represent the C-1

version except for the exhaust system.

The Italeri molding is finely

detailed and includes many optional

parts needed for this project. The

fuselage contours are much different

than any of the other kit manufacturers'

interpretations of the B-25. Compare

various cross sections and the depth

of the nose. The fuselage windows

are oversized and too angular

throughout. Still, many of you will

find this kit your best choice.

Modifying the Kit. No kit

contains the proper navigator's

windows or exhaust system for the

particular version of the B-25

portrayed in this article. Some

modifications to the rear fuselage

windows are needed for each kit.

These are the only true modifications

required. This section outlines the

steps for these modifications and

some minor additions and improvements.

The exhausts are neither the early,

single pipe type or the later individual

cowl stacks given in the kits. Rather

the exhausts should be multiport

collectors.

These narrow diameter ports exit

behind the lower cowl flaps to the

exterior of each nacelle. These can

be fashioned from wire insulation

or other small diameter tubing.

The navigator's windows are not flush

with the fuselage like those in the

kits, but are bulged. The kit windows

should be replaced by forming bulged

windows from plastic film that has been

heat-formed over a hemisphere. At the

rear of the wing root there should be

three horizontally set oval windows and

two round fuselage windows. Compare these

to the kit you choose. Rather than cutting

the windows to shape, an alternate

method is to insert clear rectangular panels,

then scribe and mask the window shapes

before painting the adjacent skin.

This method can also be used to correct

the Testor/Italeri kit. Add a fixed gun

to the starboard side of the nose.

Modeling details such as air vents,

antenna lines, red escape hatch markings

and a turned nose wheel can add realism.

Researching the Aircraft Markings.

The search started with the color

picture in the National Geographic.

The first objective was to isolate

"Balls O' Fire" to a particular bomb

group. The mission list painted by

the plane's cockpit showed targets in

the Mediterranean area. Five AAF

bomb groups flew the B-25 in the Med.

The earliest of these, the 12th and

the 340th, arrived in North Africa with

sand colored Mitchells. In contrast,

the 310th had olive drab planes originally.

The 321st came later with many sand

finished planes and still later, in the

fall of 1944, the 319th BG converted from

B-26 Marauders to Mitchells.

The color photo clearly shows the

plane as olive drab with grey undersides.

Enough of the data block stencilled by

the cockpit can be read to distinguish

the plane as a B-25C. Although the

serial number is not readable in the

published prints, the presence of a red

propeller warning stripe suggests an

early production block. Later planes

rarely had the warning stripe.

These facts do not absolutely place

the plane with the 310th BG, but were

enough to convince me to concentrate

my search within that Group.

Another clue to the identity of

"Balls O' Fire" is the crew names

stencilled on the plane. Visible in

the photo are the names of the

navigator/bombardier - Lt. Myers -

and the pilot - C. A. Phillips.

Checking the unit history of the

310th BG at the Office of Air Force

History, I quickly found several early

mission reports listing aircraft 41-13074

piloted by Phillips with Myers as Navigator.

Bingo! "Balls O' Fire!"

The group and serial number thus

confirmed, the next step was to establish

the plane's markings at the time of the

Rome mission. The Rome mission was

traced to July 19, 1943 using the "Saga

of 54"; the plane's painted mission

list and the unit history mission

reports. No overall photo of the plane

could be found, so the markings were

established by collaborating several

photos of the 310th aircraft and

reference sources describing the

group's markings for that period. The

markings are described below.

Finishing "Balls O' Fire." The only

commercial nose art for "Balls O' Fire"

that I have found are included, oddly

enough, on the ESCI 1/72 Short Sterling

sheet (#57). Even these provide only

the nose art. The art work is accurately

sized and colored. The composition is

acceptable, being only slightly tighter

than the original. This can be improved

by sectioning the decal if so desired.

I believe that two mission symbols

and ship victory should be added to

the upper left corner of the scoreboard.

No mission list is given. For 1/72,

any yellow one-inch block lettering

can be used to "Greek" in the missions

so long as the double-sized Rome is

added to the end of the list.

Markings for the 310th BG's

Mitchells during the Summer of 1943

included yellow surrounds to the

national insignia in four locations

and yellow horizontal tail bands.

Several decal sheets have the

national insignia with the yellow

surround. Choose those with the

narrower surrounds. The stars'

dimensions are 45-inch in all four

positions. The tail bands are 12

inches wide and can be painted or

cut from yellow decal. Check the

location relative to the trim tab

and hinge.

Factory markings for the B-25C

include a scale nine-inch high yellow

call number (113074) on the tails and

the three-inch prop warning stripe

behind the cockpit. These markings

are available commercially on several

decal sheet.

Notice that the underside camouflage

wave pattern on this aircraft undulates

severely with the troughs nearly below the

horizontal line of sight when viewed in profile.

The Ducimus Camouflage and Markings, number 22,

is a helpful reference for this part of the

project.


















REFERENCES

B-25 Mitchell, Koku Fan Famous Planes

of the World, No. 58, Bunrin-Do, Japan,

Feb. 1975.

Craven, W. F. and Cate, J. L.; Army

Air Forces in World War II, Vol II,

Europe - TORCH to POINTBLANK; USAF

Historical Division, Univ. of Chicago

Press, Chicago, IL., 1955.

Freeman, Roger; "North American B-25

Mitchell in USAAF Service 1941-1945,"

Camouflage and Markings #22, Ducimus

Books Ltd., London, England, circa 1973.

Hair, Charles A.; "The Saga of '54 and

More - The Story of the 310th Bombardment

Group (M)," Robinson Typographics,

Anaheim, CA 1987.

Jones, Stuart E.; "Fun Helped Them

Fight," National Geographic, Vol. XCIII,

No. 1, Jan 1948.

McDowell, Ernest R.; "B-25 Mitchell in

Action," Squadron/Signal Publications,

Warren, MI, 1978.

Maurer, Maurer,; "Air Force Combat Units

of World War II," Office of Air Force

History, Washington, D.C. 1961, Reprint

1983.

Rust, Kenn; "Twelfth Air Force Story,"

Historical Aviation Album, Temple City,

CA, 1975.

Scutts, Jerry; "USAAF Camouflage of

World War II," Airfix Modeling Guide

#18, Patrick Stephens, Ltd., Ber Hill,

England, 1976.

Unit History of the 310th Bombardment

Group, Reel B0229, USAF Historical

Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Ala.

Wagner, Ray; "The North American

B-25A to G Mitchell," Profile #59,

Profile Publications, Ltd., Surry,

England, 1965.











This message has been edited by philmarchese from IP address 71.203.114.46 on Feb 19, 2008 10:09 PM