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The 312th in Australia and Beyond
For nearly three weeks, the 312th called the S.S. Nieuw Amsterdam home. This ship was originally a Holland-America luxury liner that carried 800 passengers from Southampton to New York in six days....
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Gusap and the Arrival of the Havoc
On December 28, 1943, the 312th ground echelon made its way to Gusap to rejoin the rest of the Group. They arrived at the beginning of the rainy season when razor-sharp kunai grass grew up to ten feet...
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The Jinx of the 389th
Throughout February, the 312th air echelon was completing training at Port Moresby. The ground echelon kept busy at Gusap by trying to win the drainage battles and building roads and showers at the...
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Operation Reckless
Hollandia, located on the northern coast of Netherlands, New Guinea, was an isolated town captured by the Japanese in April 1942. From there, they built the Hollandia, Cyclops and Sentani airdromes and...
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Operation Reckless Part 2: Pounding Hollandia
Fifth Air Force began attacking Hollandia on March 30, 1944 with B-24 Liberators escorted by 80 Lightnings. They met 40 enemy aircraft, but did not lose any planes. The next day, the heavy bombers went...
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Black Sunday: Part 1
The 312th was back to attacking Hollandia with bombers from the rest of Fifth Air Force: B-24s from the 22nd, 43rd and 90th Bomb Groups, B-25s from the 38th and 345th, and A-20s from the 312th, 3rd and...
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An interview with Warbird Radio
Larry Hickey, author of the Eagles Over the Pacific book series, will be interviewed by Warbird Radio this Thursday, April 1, at 10AM Eastern Time. He will be talking about the latest book, Rampage of...
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Black Sunday: Part 2
The little-known 25th Liaison Squadron was instrumental in the rescue of many downed crews, especially on Black Sunday. Mainly enlisted men flew Stinson L-5 Sentinels and Piper L-4A Grasshoppers, which...
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Black Sunday: Part 3
LADY CONSTANCE, the plane belonging to Lt. Gibbons, was having engine trouble on the way back from Hollandia. As Gibbons trailed behind the 312th formation, he discovered that the 30 gallons of fuel...
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The Roarin’ 20′s
If you’re interested in learning more about the 312th Bomb Group and you haven’t done so already, look into adding our book to your collection! Rampage of the Roarin’ 20′s traces the 312th from the...
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Reflections on Black Sunday
This is the last installment in the series involving the 312th on Black Sunday. Read the previous installment here. The US wasn’t the only country that lost aircraft and crews around Black Sunday. Two...
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Dangerous Haystacks
In January 1945, the 312th was flying missions over Japanese territory on Luzon. As the pilots flew around looking for targets, they would sometimes come across haystacks in the middle of fields. These...
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Our First Ebook
While we love our hardbound and paperback books at IHRA, we’re well aware of the increase in digital publishing. We decided to give it a shot by converting our most recent book, Rampage of the Roarin’...
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Attacking Babo
Back in April 1942, the Japanese landed at Babo, in what was then the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), on the southern section of the McCluer Gulf. At the time, Babo’s airfield had a single runway,...
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Tempest Over Boela: July 14, 1944
This painting portrays two aircraft from the 386th Bomb Squadron, 312th Bomb Group, during a highly successful attack by 75 A-20s on the Boela oil fields on the northeast coast of the island of Ceram,...
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The Joker
On the Philippine island of Luzon, elements of the 312th Bombardment Group, nicknamed the Roarin’ 20’s, sweep across Japanese-occupied Clark Field near Manila on January 14, 1945. The attack was...
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What’s in a Name?
From Ken’s Men to the Air Apaches, units of Fifth Air Force had thought of a wide variety of nicknames for themselves. This week, we thought we’d cover the origins of the sobriquets for the 312th,...
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A Fiery Landing
Nine planes took off for Utarom, a Japanese air base on the west coast of Dutch New Guinea, on the morning of September 28, 1944. The mission was soon cancelled due to bad weather over their target and...
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Christmas in the Pacific Theater
This post will probably look familiar to longtime readers. Men from the 500th Bomb Squadron, 345th Bomb Group enjoy a turkey dinner on December 25, 1944 at Dulag. For the men of Fifth Air Force,...
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Sweet Willums II
First Lieutenant Claud C. Haisley named his P-40N SWEET WILLUMS after his wife, Margaret. A color photo of this artwork enlarged from an 8mm movie film can be found on page 194 of this book. The A-20G...
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