WWII Planes: You Are My Sunshine

 

Not-so-shiny
California Sunshine

Next in my pile of possibly-WWII era photos we have California Sunshine. Like I said in my introduction post, this one had a couple of groups of numbers, so I started with the one that looked most like a serial number: 42-86776. The Google bot returned a hit on Forgotten Props. This site told me that this is a Douglas A-20G-20-DO Havoc. Wow! So the top group of numbers on the plane is the plane’s model number? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. (After looking at an unrelated picture of a P-51 from a museum a few days later, Hey! It’s got its model number on it, too! So I guess I should just look closer for these things, or pay better attention.) 

Strangely, though, Forgotten Props was the only site that gave me any information for that serial number, which perhaps shouldn’t have been surprising, considering the site says “Construction #: N/A” and “Information Needed” (Not even my new friend Pacific Wrecks had any information about this specific plane, or even included it in the listing of A-20 Havocs, which includes planes that were scrapped or abandoned, not just ones that were wrecked. Nor did this site have this, which lists a ton of airplane serial numbers. Why is this serial number unaccounted for? Mystery!). However, when I did the serial number + the nose art, I got one hit: this plane was assigned to Maj. William H. Kemble, Jr. of the 312th Bombardment Group. This also matches fuzzy details in the picture: under the serial number, there’s white lettering that – as best as I could read, with my eyes, two different magnifying glasses, and blowing up the scan – says “PILOT MAJOR W. H.[?] [ ],” so Major William H. Kemble, Jr. would work (and now that I know what it might be, and looking at the physical picture again in the morning with daylight and fresh eyes, yes, that’s absolutely what my picture says). I tried searching by Major Kemble’s name to see if I could find anything about the fate of this plane; all I found was that in December 1953, he crashed, with minor damage, a C-45 with serial number 44-47659. 

The fuller description of the book this information about 42-86776 comes from says that this bomber group was stationed in the South Pacific, flying combat missions from New Guinea, so again we have that South Pacific connection with where my grandfather was stationed. The 312th Bombardment Group originally flew P-40 dive bombers, but “quickly converted to the A-20 light attack bomber and fought its way across New Guinea, the Netherlands East Indies, the Philippines, and Formosa. Many of these missions were flown in the low-level strafer attack mode.” (Later in the war, the 312th switched to flying B-32 Dominator Very Heavy bombers, if you’re wondering.)  

Pacific Wrecks says that serial number 42-86786 was delivered to the U.S. Army Air Force on September 1, 1943; with this being 10 serial numbers after my California Sunshine, can I assume that my plane was delivered to the USAAF around the end of August or beginning of September 1943? 

Douglas A-20s were light or medium bombers, attackers, and night fighters, and were used by many countries’ air forces. A-20s were called either “Boston” or “Havoc,” depending on the type and whose air force they were in. Most of the U.S.’s A-20s were used in the South Pacific. Joe Baugher says that “most [A20] sorties were flown at low level… . During these low level bombing operations, it was found that there was little need for a bomb aimer. Consequently, the bomb aimer was often replaced by additional forward-firing machine guns mounted in a faired-over nose. The A-20's heavy firepower, maneuverability, speed and bombload made it an ideal weapon for pinpoint strikes against aircraft, hangers [sic], and supply dumps. In formation, their heavy forward firepower could overwhelm shipboard anti-aircraft defenses and at low level the A-20s could skip their bombs into the sides of transports and destroyers with deadly effect.” The Aviation History Online Museum says that A-20s were “said to be easy to fly with good handling characteristics during takeoff and landing. It represented an advance in flight control systems with light handling during high-speed flight… The tricycle landing gear made takeoff, landing and ground handling very simple and pilots were able to fly it with a minimum of instructions.” The modifications for the A-20G “optimized [it] for low altitude attacks,” but “such low-level torpedo attacks were quite dangerous for the A-20s which were vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire, [however] the success of such operations outweighed the risks”. 

A20-G planes were the most produced of the A-20 series: over 2850 were built. The plane had a wingspan of 61’, was 48’ long, and about 18’ high; it carried two to three crewmen; and could travel 325-340 mph maximum. 

The final A-20s were delivered in September 1944. After the war, Baugher says, “the Havocs and appropriated Bostons had become surplus to USAAF requirements, and most were immediately scrapped. However, a few surplus Havocs were offered on the surplus market at very attractive prices--only $3000 apiece with a full tank of fuel. Nevertheless, the A-20 never became very popular on the civilian market.”

Rampage of the Roarin’ 20’s: The Illustrated History of the 312th Bombardment Group During World War II describes the original paintjob of A-20s: “The standard A-20G camouflage, applied at the Douglas Aircraft Corporation plant in Santa Monica, California, was Dark Olive Drab upper surfaces with Neutral Gray undersurfaces.” The book also includes an image – I think an artist’s rendering of the nose art – of the airplane that shows our California gal in a maroon dress with white underskirt, thigh high nylons with her thighs showing above her garters, white collar and wrists, a maroon hat with white band, with her image surrounded by grey and holding something… a parachute or a feather duster? “California” is in yellow with red borders, and “Sunshine” is either in all yellow, or with a very thin border. And still, the airplane itself is a dark olive drab. 

U.S. Army Air Force Douglas A-20G-20-DO (S/N 42-86657) in flight, via Wikipedia

Douglas A-20G Havoc at National Museum of the United States Air Force, via Wikipedia

I count at least 40 bomb markings in my picture, most of which look like they include another marking (a star?) above the bomb; if this plane had presumably so many missions and successful missions, why can I not find anything about it online? Especially given how much I found about American Beauty! That is a huge mystery. 

So was this plane about to be scrapped when my grandfather (possibly) saw it? Where and when was this? Since I can’t seem to find any records of what happened to this plane in its career, I have no idea. (And honestly, I’m a little disappointed by the internet right now. You start out not expecting to find any information, but once you start to see how much information, overall, is out there, you suddenly expect everything to be accessible. Why is there so little information for California Sunshine?) 

One last thing: underneath the pilot’s name in the picture is what looks like more writing, possibly “PROJ. 96344” or “PROJ. 9634-J.” I searched the internet with a variety of search terms, including other numbers I thought it might be (for example, not being completely sure that was a 9 and not a 2), and the only result I got was one A-20G Havoc, serial number 43-9106, with “PROJ. 96344” stenciled on it. I also tried googling that number with combinations of “USAAF,” “US military,” “WWII,” and still only got this one result. So… is it a project number of some sort? And if it’s on two planes (California Sunshine and Short Stuff), why isn’t it on – or noted online – other planes? And this serial number is a fair way away from Sunshine’s, and the plane is an A-20G-25-DO, so it doesn’t seem like this “Proj.” implied a specific production line. I don’t know. Anyone out there know anything they can share with me? 

So, feeling a little underwhelmed with the information I found on our California Sunshine gal, I move on to the so-called “Zero.” 

pt3: WWII Planes: The Mistaken Identity of Oscar or Zero