Just to put the story in one spot for everyone to see. And yes it is for this kinda stuff that I play this game. Without guys like Toad's Dad, there is no point.
All this info comes from the massive history of the 345th BG "Warpath Across the Pacific" by Lawrence J. Hickey.
Quitch's final flight. Toad's Dad was a helluva pilot.
"Lt. Nirdlinger was leading the Black Panthers on the mission. During the bomb run over the docks and wharves at Ternate, the bomb racks apparently malfunctioned and his bombs wouldn't drop. Frustrated, he turned right across the straight to Dodinga, a small port on the west side of Halmahera Island which sat in a small horseshoe-shaped harbor, surrounded by steep hills. Spotting a small ship tied up to the jetty there, he started an attack run with 1st Lt John J. Nolan (Toad's Dad) flying his left wing in Quitch.
As the two planes approached the jetty, flying just off the water, Jap gunners opened fire. Nirdlinger's plane dropped its bombs, then the two B-25s began a steep climb to clear a hill directly behind the jetty. Suddenly Nolan's turret gunner Sgt/ Don Holland saw Nirdlinger's plane slide under Quitch and then pull up sharply. The tail struck Quitch's right wing and broke off. While Nolan struggled to control the crippled Quitch, as it brushed the tops of the trees near the crest, Nirdlinger's tailess aircraft wobbled, then smahed into the side of the hill.
Nolan's co-pilot 2/Lt Ed Bina, had grabbed the control wheel as Quitch fishtailed and tried to invert. The plane began a wild ride down the back side of the long sweeping ridge, clipping the trees as both pilots wrestled the controls for their lives. About six feet of wing had been sheared away and the remainder was bent downward and acted like a flap, trying to roll the plane over.
Nolan reduced the right engine to almost idle, and incresed the left to full power as the plane neared the shore of the peninsula. The two pilots had the control wheels turned upside down into the right aileron position and were holding full right rudder as Quitch finally leveled out just above the water in a slight bank. It took both pilots holding the controls in this position to keep the plane steady, but with vapor trailing off the ragged wing, it gradually climed to 5000 feet for the 500 mile journey back to Noemfoor.
Nearing the destination several hours later, they began to descend for an emergency landing. The other crewman had donned their parachutes but decided to stay with the aircraft rather then bail out. The landing gear was down and the plane was at about 1000 feet on its final approach to Kamiri Drome when the overworked left engine finally gave out. The plane began gyrating wildly and almost went out of control as it dropped rapidly towards the shore.
Although the plane flopped from side to side as it glided down, Nolan managed to level out the wings and retract the gear just before the plane hit the water. it ground it's belly off on a coral reef as it slid towards the beach, coming to rest in about three feet of water with large rocks filling the navigators compartment level with the fight deck. Lt. James Johenning, the navigator who had been sitting on the floor of the fuselage, found himself perched atop the pile of rocks.. Somehow he came through with only a scratch on his back. The engineer Sgt. John Davis was a bit more battered with a cut on his scalp and a possible fracture to his kneecap. The radio operator Sgt. Ray Kahout was uninjured as were Nolan and Bina."
What a helluva story.
Nose art on Quitch
Right side
