Rather than assign one of the other aircrews to that slot, he took the position himself. Wilkins also knew that the B-25 flying the far left flank of his squadron formation would be the aircraft closest to the enemy and therefore the aircraft that would be confronted with the greatest volume of enemy antiaircraft fire. He knew that he was placing the 11 aircraft and 55 men in his command in the position of greatest danger, but somebody had to do it. He had confidence in his men, confidence in his own experience, and he knew that the 8th Bomber Squadron could be depended on to get in and hit the Japanese ships that would be waiting there. When the time came to organize the three waves during the planning of the raid, Wilkins volunteered his squadron to fly the extremely hazardous tail-end element. It was a small percentage of the total bomber strength of the raid, but it was nevertheless a crucial part of the mission because the 8th would go in last. As commander of the 8th Bomber Squadron, Major Wilkins was the leader of just 11 of those 84 B-25s. In addition to that, 84 P-38 Lightning fighters would fly in escort to defend the B-25s. Today’s mission against Rabaul was in many ways the most important raid yet because it was to be the biggest-with 84 B-25s from nine squadrons descending on the harbor in three waves. It was a continuum of escalation that made each successive mission more dangerous than the one before it. To meet the new threat, the enemy was constantly bringing in more and more personnel, fighter aircraft, and antiaircraft weapons. Army bombers had been striking Rabaul whenever the weather permitted during the last two weeks. This would not be a surprise raid either because U.S. Because of this, they would defend it tenaciously from any and all air raids. The Japanese desperately needed Simpson Harbor as their primary anchorage supplying the ongoing, vicious battle in the Solomon Islands to the south. Although this was to be his 87th mission, a strike against Rabaul was nevertheless nothing to be taken lightly. A combat mission was nothing new for Major Wilkins-he had been flying them against the Japanese for almost two years in the Southwest Pacific Theater. The news was met with a combination of relief and frustration because this target was an intimidating and dangerous one-the Japanese fleet anchorage at Simpson Harbor, Rabaul, on the island of New Britain. The two previous days ended with the mission being canceled due to bad weather over the target area. For the third day in a row, he and the other aircrews from the 8th Bombardment Squadron rose at 0400 hours, ate breakfast, and then manned their planes at 0630 hours. Wilkins sat in the cockpit of his B-25 bomber waiting for the go order. As the sun rose higher and higher, Major Raymond H.
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