North American Aviation B-25J "Mitchell" "Maid in the Shade"

This plane was manufactured at the North American Aviation plant in Kansas City and delivered to the U.S. Army Air Force on June 9, 1944. It then was flown to Hunter Field, Savannah, Georgia on June 24 then onto Morrison Field, Florida where it was readied for deployment to the Mediterranean Theatre of Operation.

On July 7, 1944, this aircraft departed Morrison Field and followed the southern route through Brazil, then across the Atlantic to Africa where it was delivered to the 3rd Air Facility Depot. Later that fall it was picked up by the 319th Bomb Group, 437th Squadron at Serraggia Airbase, Corsica. There it was assigned Battle Number 18. The plane then proceeded to fly 15 combat missions over Italy between November 4 and December 31, 1944. The majority of the targets were railroad bridges.