With skull and crossbones on her nose, this profile portrays 'Old S' as she appeared at Gusap circa July 1944. The rudder's fabric covering lent it to fading in New Guinea's sun. The white stripe across the base of the fin was a generic marking to all 312th BG Havocs.

This A-20G strafer/ attack bomber never had the sobriquet 'Old S' appear on its airframe, yet was arguably the most famous of all 312th BG ships. Delivered from the Douglas Aircraft Corporation at Santa Monica, California to the Army Air Corps on 26th November 1943, it was then shipped to Australia, and became the first dash 30 model A-20G to be assigned into the 312th Bombardment Group. The unit converted to A-20Gs from P-40s in December 1943/ January 1944.

After being assembled by the 4th Air Depot Group at Garbutt, Townsville, it was flown to Gusap via Cairns, Horn Island and Port Moresby. At Gusap the aircraft was assigned to the Group's Commanding Officer, Colonel Robert H. Strauss, a West Point graduate. Old S was delivered to Gusap in squadron formation from Port Moresby on 23rd February 1944 by 386th Squadron Commander Major Carroll. At Port Moresby he asked the squadron's senior gunner, Sgt Leo W. Mandabach, whether he would like to ride to Gusap behind him in the aircraft's life?raft compartment. Mandabach recalls, "laying on the deck behind the pilot sounded thrilling so in I jumped. I felt it was a mistake when we arrived at Gusap however. The gear 'down and locked' indicator swung like a pendulum. I could see the sweat popping out from Carroll's neck, and visualized myself sliding over his head, or one of the prop tips carving me up during a belly landing". Carroll eventually lowered the gear satisfactorily however, and Old S was ready for service. The next evening Strauss briefed the crews for the Group's first A?20 mission, against AA positions near the Japanese airfield of Alexishafen. On this and the next few missions 386th Squadron aircrews would wear helmets, but they found them cumbersome and the practice soon ceased. Early next morning Strauss' brand new A-20 led four flights of three aircraft down the Ramu Valley. Thick cloud hung onto both sides of the mountain ranges surrounding the Valley, and a visual approach to the target initially seemed doubtful. Strauss negotiated a pass between two mountains however, and commenced a tight left turn to lose altitude, a maneuver which tested the skills of those behind to keep formation. The turn completed, the A-20s descended and fanned out towards the target in abreast-formation at minimum altitude. The attack went smoothly, and all participants returned to Gusap safely. Upon their return Strauss found several curious staff personnel waiting to see how the inaugural mission had fared. As they walked around to greet him, one found a small bullet hole in his aircraft's right cowling. A few days later Strauss would receive another surprise. His regular gunner, Sgt Leo Mandabach, was rostered off, and after a mission Strauss watched with "amazement" as a Dalmatian dog was carried out of the top hatch behind the rear turret. The gunner told Strauss that he always took the dog with him as a mascot on combat missions.

The aircraft's first crew-chief, Cpl Ben Suddeth got into trouble after accompanying Old S to the 4th Air Depot at Townsville for its first major inspection and overhaul. There he paid an Australian artist to paint a name and picture on the nose of the aircraft. The overhaul was finished earlier than anticipated, and the aircraft returned to Gusap with a fresh new name, "Miss McCock", supported by the stenciled outline of an incomplete but obvious and curvaceous beauty. At Gusap, Strauss was among those to see his aircraft taxi back into the flight line. Shortly afterwards Strauss ordered Suddeth to paint over the risqué name with black paint. This done, Suddeth then painted the word 'Censored' over the covering black patch, and suggested to Strauss that the aircraft still needed an identity. Strauss suggested a bull's eye, and so one was duly painted underneath the cockpit, making Strauss' regular gunner Leo Mandabach "a little nervous." Although no name was ever painted on the aircraft it soon acquired the fond name Old S, because of the large white identifier S painted on its tail. At Gusap Suddeth had somehow procured a large Harley-Davidson motorcycle which he regularly rode. While preparing for the Group's move to Hollandia in June 1944, Strauss ordered that the motorcycle must remain behind. A few days after their arrival at Hollandia, Suddeth had mysteriously acquired another Harley Davidson. He later confided to trusted peers however that he had disassembled and wired the original motorcycle into Old S' bomb bay for the flight over.

Following the Group's move to Hollandia, a strafing mission was flown on 9th July 1944 at low level over Babo, the Japanese airfield at the top of the vogelkopf in the Dutch West Indies. During this mission an unexploded 25mm anti-aircraft projectile, fused for low?level, became lodged just above Old S' fuselage neoprene fuel tank. During this raid damage was also sustained to the electrical system and airspeed indicator.

Sgt Richard E. Harris became Old S' crew chief in late October 1944, and Strauss kept flying the aircraft until his last mission with the Group which he led on 16th February 1945 against Corregidor. After Strauss' departure, the aircraft was assigned to 386th pilot Joseph Waetzman. In May 1945 the Group headed out on a short mission to Baguio, summer capital of the Philippines, which was high in the mountains and occupied by the Japanese. About halfway there Waetzman, flying Old S, dropped out of formation and appeared to be having difficulty controlling the aircraft. Don Livengood slowed and pulled out of formation to accompany him back to Lingayen. It turned out that an exhaust stack from a preceding aircraft had come loose and hit Old S, damaging a control surface. From the way Old S was flying, Livengood sensed that Waetzman would have to belly-land so Livengood called the tower and asked them to remind Waetzman that Old S was carrying Composition X bombs which should be dropped before landing. Waetzman diverted a short distance and dropped his bombs into the sea, before bringing Old S in for a belly?landing. Livengood followed Old S all the way back to Lingayen, and because Baguio was not that far way Livengood returned to the target while after the others had left. For a while Livengood and his gunner Jimmy Dolan strafed Baguio by themselves. After this incident Old S was repaired then transferred to the 388th Bombardment Squadron as the 386th had reassigned all it's A-20s in preparation to receive the Consolidated B-32 Dominator. Old S nevertheless retained the letter S on its rudder with its new squadron, and was made the mechanical responsibility of crew chief Sgt William A. Hannon. In March 1945 experimental rocket launchers were installed on the aircraft and tested on several missions. The rocket concept was abandoned however, mainly due to an official lack of requirement, combined with their dubious accuracy

At Floridablanca on morning of 10th June 45, pilot Ralph Trout could not start Old S due to a flat battery, and Hannon clambered into the bombay and set to work. A short-circuit, doubtless caused by the battery lead shorting on the fusleage, ignited petrol fumes there however, and two minutes after Trout and Hannon had run for their lives, the fully-fuelled and armed Old S exploded into hundreds of fragments, damaging several other nearby A-20s. The explosion had another effect - it ended plans which were underway to fly the aircraft around the US for a warbond drive.

This precis is devoted to Old S' first crew chief - Ben Suddeth