Pacific Scrapyard 1945/6. Can anyone ID?

[jmkendall]

http://usafflagranks.com/Major_General_ ... Mullen.htm

If you follow that link and scroll way down there are 33 original photographs taken by Gen. McMullen after VJ Day and before returning to the US. There are a lot of famous planes there. From what little I was able to gather the location could be anywhere from Clark Field, to Nadzab, to Moritie ( sp?).

In any event there are some great shots there, including some A-20s with impressive mission markings..oh and a loan B-25; also with some impressive markings. Most are B-24s. Curiously with the tires removed!

[The Inspector]

Just a guess, but removing the tires would prevent some half tanked pilot or mechanic from 'takin' her for jusssss one more flight...' but reinstalling the bare wheels made them easier to drag around with a cleatrac.

[hang the expense]

My guess is clark field. In the back ground of some of the 24 picture are 49th fg 38s and I know that more than a few 49th birds were bulldozed into a ravine and set alight.No telling how many birds ended that way.

[Steve Nelson]

I notice the props have been removed as well as the tires. I wonder if it was simply because both were common to a number of types, and spares were always needed.

The pics are awesome, but as a modeler I find it endlessly frustrating that we have all these wonderful pics of nose art, but no clue as to the rest of the markings.

The aircraft I find most intriguing is the General's personal B-23, the "Burma Roadster." I didn't think any Dragons ever left the continental United States (in military service anyway) but the "Roadster" flew almost completely around the world.

SN

[jdvoss]

Without question the scrapyard is that of BIAK, NEI. All the 100's of aircraft dumped there were all made non-flyable by cutting off the propellors , removal of nose wheels and in many cases (e.g. B-24's) crunching the horizontal tail from the fuselage. The aircraft remained there until the late 40's /early 50's when scrapping rights were awarded.

[bdk]

What kind of plane has 084 with a skull and crossed bombs on the tail?

[Mike Bates]

What kind of plane has 084 with a skull and crossed bombs on the tail?

90th Bomb Group "Jolly Rogers"

Mike

[jdvoss]

bdk:

Yes, that "084" with the Skull and Crossbones is a mystery indeed. The only aircraft I can recall that had a high vertical tail is that of the Douglas B-23 / UC-67 Dragon.

As a point of interest back in the early 1990's I made a trip to Biak just to see the place and to verify if any WWII aircraft remained. Bottom Line: NOTHING AT ALL!!! Could not find even a single riviet. Biak had three contiguous airfields ( Sorido, Boroke and Mokmer). Sordio airfield had been converted into a barracks area for the Indonesian navy, Boroke was an abandoned airbase from the Dutch military presence (ending in the early 1960's) and Mokmer is the current Intl Airport. Owi Island located just a couple of miles south of Biak was also a USAAF base.

I quick visit to Owi revealed a lot of junk left over from the US presence. If I were to return to Biak I would make it over to Owi just to explore the area...looks interesting.

It's a bit clumsy to get to Biak now as one has to fly to Jakarta then backtrack to the extreme eastern territorial limits of Indonesia. When I went there there was a great flight out of LAX via Garuda Airlines DC-10 (LAX, HNL, Biak, Bali, Jakarta). It was a full flight and I WAS THE ONLY ONE TO DEPART AT BIAK!!

A word of CAUTION: Stay away from Morotai and its airfields. It's located on the island of Suluwesi and is a known Al Queda training area.

[Randy Wilson]

I think 084 is a Martin B-26 Marauder with the rudder hard over to the left and the view from the right rear quarter, which helps foreshorten the vertical stabilizer. That's the closest match I can come up with for that tail but I could be wrong.

Randy

[Chris Brame]

Some goodies in there, all right - in the third shot there's a B-24 tail in the b.g. with the squirrel-running-with-a-camera insignia of the 2nd Photo Charting Squadron. I was hoping to see F-7B Hi-Priority Stuff in there (my avatar), but nope... it does look like #946 had the same artist, and there are definitely more F-7s there. Anyone else spot the P-61 #604? Probably 42-5604; 42-39604 was condemned in 1947 and scrapped in 1949.
And do the folks at HAG in Geneseo know their B-23 (39-38) is General McMullen's Burma Roadster?


Mods: If reposting the photos is against the rules I'll take 'em down.

[RareBear]

I agree that 084 is a B-26 Marauder. The dihedral of the horizontal stabilizers reinforces that belief.

Walt

[jdvoss]

Very low probability that the mystery A/C is a B-26 Marauder. Reason being is that the USAAF pulled all B-17's and B-26's out of the Pacific in 1943. The only people flying Marauders 1944-45 was the USN / USMC as target tugs.

FWIW, http://www.biak.nl has some photos of post -WWII derelict USAAF aircraft. It's a rather cumbersome website as its all written Dutch but if you spend a little time searching you'll find some interesting A/C photos taken during the late 50's -early 60's e.g. P2V, Hawker Hunter, Tiger Moth, PBM, C-47 et.al.

[Warbird Kid]

Now is my time to shine....

Gentleman, it is an A-20G named "Little Chief" from the 90th BG. It was a squadron hack used all across that area of the Pacific Campaign.



Here in this scanned image you can see another shot of Little Chief. Also attached is a shot of the 90th's C-47 hack "Fat Cat". (Which I think would be a really cool scheme to put on a C-47 today.)


In the photo you can see the pilots hatch open in-between the engine nacelle and cockpit of the P-38.


My father and I are now speculating that it was in this very scrapyard that my grandfather's B-24 "Queen of Hearts" met her demise. Thanks for posting!!!!

[jdvoss]

Warbird Kid:

Congratulations. You are the hero of the day !!!

[bdk]

Thanks for the positive ID! I see now that the vertical is foreshortened.