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Another sign in the jungle brought
to you by Aerothentic
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674th Bombardment Squadron 417th Bombardment Group Fifth Air Force |
The squadron sign for the 674th Bombardment Group at their camp entrance at Saidor. Thier parent Group was the 417th which arrived in the New Guinea theatre in February 1944 equipped with A-20G attack bombers. Saidor would be mainly remembered as becoming the busiest airfield in the Southern hemisphere on Black Sunday, 16th April 1944, when hundreds of lost aircraft tried to land there due to tropical weather. One 417th pilot 2/Lt Arthur Gresens, returned A-20G In The Mood to Saidor that day and recalls, "Upon reaching Saidor I did have some fuel remaining though was on crossfeed with one tank very, very low and the fuel warning light on. I circled - waited for my opportunity for an approach, set it down nice and smooth only to go into a skid on the metal runway and crashed thru the planes which had collided head-on in the middle on the runway. Fortunately In the Mood did not catch the full impact, but ended up against an embankment just off the runway after the RH undercarriage had collapsed. The plane was washed out but my gunner James Christenson and I were OK - just shook up. What a day".
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