B-25C "Patches" Information Request

[Noha307]

After seeing Mark's response to a question about finding pictures of a specific aircraft while catching up on my backlog of WIX posts, I have finally decided to ask if anyone is able to help with my own version of the issue. A while back I read about the B-25C "Patches" on Wikipedia: (The anecdote has no reference by the way.)

The Mitchell was an amazingly sturdy aircraft that could withstand tremendous punishment. One well-known B-25C of the 321st Bomb Group was nicknamed "Patches" because its crew chief painted all the aircraft's flak hole patches with high-visibility zinc chromate primer. By the end of the war, this aircraft had completed over 300 missions, was belly-landed six times and sported over 400 patched holes. The airframe was so bent askew that straight-and-level flight required 8° of left aileron trim and 6° of right rudder, causing the aircraft to "crab" sideways across the sky.

The problem is that it's nigh impossible to find any information on the aircraft by on the web because all the search results come up with the other kind of patches - the fabric emblems that you put on clothing. The only other results I found are people asking the same question as I am or verbatim copies of the Wikipedia article's text. (This is a problem I commonly encounter when looking for further information on facts I have read on Wikipedia.) I normally wouldn't ask, except it's just so darn difficult to search. I was originally wanted to know if there were any photos of the aircraft - this is why Mark's post appealed to me - but now I'm willing to settle for any background information.

Just to make things more confusing, apparently there was another heavily damaged and repaired B-25 named "Patches" - only this one belonged to the 3rd Bombardment Group and was a "D" model. (Or is it possible that this is the same B-25 and the details were incorrectly reported somewhere along the line?)

While writing this post I found a somewhat relevant article, where the author mentions that his father flew on "Patches": Photos and History of the 446th Bomb Squadron
from Captain Frank J. Griffith. The only other bit of information I found was in the last reply in the HyperScale link below, which reads:

I found one reference to Patches. In the book B-25 Mitchell The Magnificent Medium, there is a pic showing most of one of the vertcal tails blown off. The caption reads; "Ground Crewman speculate on the damage inflicted by an 88mm anti-aicraft round on Lt. Col. Malcom Baily's PATCHES. The 12 BG B-25 flew in this condition for more than two hours after being hit over Yugoslavia." I thought I had seen another reference to Patches in another book, but I have yet to track it down.

For additional reference, here are some instances of other people asking the same question:

• B-25 "patches" - Fine Scale Modeler
• B-25 name "Patches" - 12 O' Clock High
• B-25 "Patches" info? - HyperScale's Aircraft Scale Modelling Discussion Forum

Seeing as so many people are want to know, I was hoping we could provide a definitive answer.

[kkemp1215]

Hello! My uncle Quentin Kemp was an engineer gunner on "Patches". I have his flight jacket that I would be glad to send you a photo of if you'd like to see it.

Here's some info I've found on "Patches"
"Patches" #42-64526
http://57thbombwing.com/gallery2/main.p ... emId=51634

Here some history of the 321st. Search "Kemp" or "Patches" in the PDF files.
57thbombwing.com/321stBombGroupHistory.php

Have you been able to find any additional info on "Patches"

Thanks,

Keith Quentin Kemp

[Noha307]

Here's some info I've found on "Patches"
"Patches" #42-64526
http://57thbombwing.com/gallery2/main.p ... emId=51634

Yeah, the same person that PMed me the pictures below sent me those pictures as well. It's probably good to post a link to them here anyway.

Have you been able to find any additional info on "Patches"

Unfortunately, I can't say that I have.

Here some history of the 321st. Search "Kemp" or "Patches" in the PDF files.
57thbombwing.com/321stBombGroupHistory.php

For anyone else interested, just so you don't waste any time, "Patches" only appears in the PDFs of the logs from May 1943 to March 1944, when it was apparently transferred to the 12th Bomb Group. I didn't bother to search for "Kemp" so I don't know which logs he appears in.

While writing this post I found a somewhat relevant article, where the author mentions that his father flew on "Patches": Photos and History of the 446th Bomb Squadron
from Captain Frank J. Griffith. The only other bit of information I found was in the last reply in the HyperScale link below, which reads:

I found one reference to Patches. In the book B-25 Mitchell The Magnificent Medium, there is a pic showing most of one of the vertcal tails blown off. The caption reads; "Ground Crewman speculate on the damage inflicted by an 88mm anti-aicraft round on Lt. Col. Malcom Baily's PATCHES. The 12 BG B-25 flew in this condition for more than two hours after being hit over Yugoslavia." I thought I had seen another reference to Patches in another book, but I have yet to track it down.

I was PMed this photo and an associated page of text, so I figured I should post 'em here for anyone else who is interested and fulfill a "promise" I made to myself over two months ago. Anyway, here they are:



Interestingly, the serial number on the tail in the photo (??-27742) does not match the serial number you provided above (42-64526) although the other information matches (Patches transferred to 12th BG in March '44 and the above photo being of a 12BG B-25 sometime before May 1945.)

A quick search of "B-25 27742" found me this: http://57thbombwing.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=47652, this http://57thbombwing.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=47646 and this http://57thbombwing.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=47649. So the above picture is clearly a different airframe. Clearly, either the caption cited above is incorrect or the person who sent me the above images was confused.

[Noha307]

As a follow up, I came across a picture of a C-46 being repaired that could lay an equal claim to the name "Patches":

(Source: WW2Aircraft.net)