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T-shirt B-25 "Daily Delivery"
100% cotton - black & khaki - print.
Design, knitting, print, assembly, box... entirely made by us.
T-shirt B25
£35.00
T-shirt B-25 "Daily Delivery"
100% cotton - black & khaki - print.
Design, knitting, print, assembly, box... entirely made by us.
"Daily Delivery" isn't the best-known B-25 of World War 2, but it's a wonderful reflection of the devotion and friendship that prevailed during that troubled period in History. Composed by an incredible RAAF and RNZAF crew:
- Flying Officer Jack B O’Halloran, pilot from Sydney,
- Pilot Officer James Crosby Jennison of Adelaide,
- Reg J Hansen from Sydney, NSW
- And Kiwis FO Harry M Hawthorn, of Hastings, NZ.
"Daily Delivery" was part of RAF No. 180 Squadron, which flew its first combat mission on 22 January 1943, a costly attack on Ghent that saw two aircraft lost. At the end of May 1943 the group, left Bomber Command to join the Second Tactical Air Force. Nos.98, 180 and 320 Squadrons formed No.139 Wing (originally designated as No.138 Airfield), all equipped with the B25-Mitchell. The wing flew daylight raids on tactical targets in France and Belgium, in preparation for the D-Day landings. This also saw the squadron go on a two week bombing course at Swanton Morely in April 1944, before in the following month switching to night bombing for the D-Day period.
From May until October 1944 the squadron operated at night against German troops, transport links and other tactical targets, supporting the fighting in Normandy and Northern Europe. It also took part in a set piece attack on the HQ of Panzer Group West at the Chateau of La Caine on 10 June 1944, providing part of the force of 61 B-25 bombers that took part in the attack. By September the advancing armies had moved too far east for No.180 Squadron to easily support them, and attention turned to those isolated pockets of German resistance left on the French coast.
In October the group moved to Europe, and resumed operations in support of the main armies. It took part in the fighting during the battle of the Bulge.
On 1 January 1945 the squadron was in the air during Operation Bodenplatte, a massive attack on Allied airfields that was the Luftwaffe's last gasp, although three aircraft were destroyed on the ground. From then until the end of the war the squadron operated ever further to the east, moving to a base in German in April 1945. Communication links were its most important target during this period, and the near-total disruption of every road and rail link in German played an important part in the eventual German collapse.
At the end of the war the squadron remained on the continent, exchanging its lend-lease Mitchells for Mosquitoes in September 1945.
