Reference

Nose Art Archive

340th Bomb Group, Italy — 1943–1944

The family archive includes a large number of B-25 Mitchell nose-art photos, crew portraits, and official strike/reconnaissance prints from the 340th Bomb Group — Koplitz's own bomb group during his USAAF service — but none of these carry his name, his 489th Squadron code, or any other detail confirming they show his own aircraft, his own crew, or a mission he personally flew. A few even carry printed captions identifying a different squadron entirely.

Rather than let this general reference material crowd out the confirmed, documented story in Chapter Four: The Italian Campaign — which rests on Koplitz's own letters and service records — it's collected here instead, as background on the unit and theater he served in. Nothing on this page is presented as a confirmed photograph of Koplitz himself, his aircraft, or his crew.

Nose Art & Crew Photos

None of the aircraft or crew below are identified by name as Koplitz's own — presented as general 340th Bomb Group material from the same collection.

A B-25 Mitchell named or marked with a Pegasus emblem, serial PAA 2565, in flight over water — A 340th Bomb Group B-25 Mitchell in flight, a winged Pegasus painted on the nose beside the serial "PAA 2565." Source material links this photo to the **488th Bombardment Squadron** rather than Koplitz's own 489th.

Five-man B-25 crew in flight gear posed in front of the Jungle Princess nose art — A five-man crew in flight gear, posed in front of their B-25's nose art — a grass-skirted "Jungle Princess" under a palm tree. No names are given for the men.

Nose art for the B-25 Sweet Sue, with crew names and a bomb tally — Nose art for "Sweet Sue," with a lengthy mission tally painted alongside it and crew names legible nearby — L. Wiznik as navigator and T/Sgt. Mancini as plane captain/crew chief — plus "Kathy" and a second, partly obscured name scratched into the paint.

Nose art for the B-25 Pretty Kitty Blue Eyes — Nose art for "Pretty Kitty Blue Eyes."

Six airmen posed in front of a B-25's nose turret — Six airmen in flight gear posed in front of a B-25's nose turret and gun. No names are given for the men.

Nose art for the B-25 Miss Mitchell — Nose art for "Miss Mitchell."

Nose art for the B-25 Wolf Bait, with a cartoon wolf and a pin-up figure — Nose art for "Wolf Bait" — a howling cartoon wolf alongside a pin-up figure.

Five-man crew posed in front of a B-25 with a large shark-mouth nose and mission tally marks — A five-man crew posed in front of a B-25 painted with a full shark-mouth nose, a scale-pattern body, and a long row of mission and bomb-tally markings. No names are given for the men.

Nose art for the B-25 The Ink Squirts, cartoon paratroopers bailing out — Nose art for "The Ink Squirts" — cartoon figures parachuting from the aircraft, credited in small print near the name to two nose artists.

Nose art reading Amoroso Amazon, pin-up figure beside a large shark-mouth nose, with three crew members — Three crew members in front of a B-25 marked "Amoroso Amazon," a pin-up figure painted beside a large shark-mouth nose. No names are given for the men.

Nose art for the B-25 Hardships 2nd, an eagle attacking three bombs painted with enemy caricatures — Nose art for "Hardships 2nd" — an eagle diving on three bombs, each painted with a caricature of an Axis power.

Nose art for the B-25 Sweet Eloise, pin-up figure with a long row of mission tally marks — Nose art for "Sweet Eloise," with a long row of mission tally marks along the nose.

Ground crew servicing a B-25 with a shark-mouth nose, name partly reading Bouise — Ground crew at work servicing a shark-mouth B-25; the painted name is only partly legible in this print.

Nose art for the B-25 The Boise Bronc, a cartoon cowboy figure and a bucking horse — Nose art for "The Boise Bronc" — a cartoon cowboy figure thrown from a bucking horse.

A single airman standing in front of a B-25 with shark-mouth nose art — An unidentified airman standing in front of a shark-mouth B-25.

Official archive photograph of a B-25 nose, with a frame number stamped in the corner — An official press or archive print — it carries a stamped frame/negative number in the corner rather than a personal snapshot border, suggesting it came from an official USAAF photo release rather than a crew member's own camera.

Strike & Reconnaissance Photos

These carry printed captions identifying their own unit and date, which makes it possible to be precise about what they do and don't document.

Two aerial strike photographs of Pantelleria, captioned 321 Bomb Group, May 16 1943 — Two aerial strike photographs of Pantelleria, the small island off Sicily bombed into surrender in the run-up to the Sicily invasion. Both are captioned in the same hand: "14 - 321 Bomb Group, 16-5-43, 1130, 7500 [ft]." The **321st** Bomb Group, not Koplitz's own 340th, so these document the wider air campaign over Pantelleria rather than a mission he personally flew.

Aerial strike photograph over Kalamaki, Greece, captioned November 15 1943 — A strike photo over Kalamaki, Greece, dated November 15, 1943, with a printed reconnaissance code along the bottom edge that includes "340" — the same Bomb Group number as Koplitz's own, unlike the Pantelleria photos above. That's worth noting, but the code doesn't identify a specific squadron, so it isn't confirmation this was his own 489th Squadron's mission.

Aerial reconnaissance photograph of a river near Berat, Albania, with a B-25 visible in frame — A reconnaissance photo of a winding river near Berat, Albania — home to the Kuçovë oil field and airfield, a documented 340th Bomb Group target during the Balkan oil campaign — with a B-25 visible in the frame. The printed code along the bottom matches the same "340" numbering series as the Kalamaki photo above, with the same caveat about squadron-level certainty.

A B-25 Mitchell coded 8V banking over a target with smoke visible below — A B-25 coded "8V" banking away from a target, with smoke rising from a strike just below — the source filename references a bridge target. No unit code is legible on the print itself, so this is presented as general combat photography from the theater rather than a confirmed record of Koplitz's own aircraft.

Looking for the confirmed, documented story of Koplitz's own USAAF service instead? See Chapter Four: The Italian Campaign, which includes his own July 1943 letter home and the March 1944 Vesuvius eruption photographed by his own 340th Bomb Group.

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