Lt James Knarr (left) with his crew chief. At the time he was an A-20G Havoc pilot with the 387th Squadron, 312th Bomb Group of the US Fifth Air Force.

Roy Parker and James Knarr trained on attack bombers together, both finishing at Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma City. Together the two friends went overseas, Knarr finishing up on A-20Gs with the 312th Bomb Group while Parker went on to fly Martin B-26 Marauders with the 22nd Bomb Group. Throughout the war the two kept in touch until July 22,1944, when Knarr was killed in a Havoc during a raid, on Kokas in New Guinea. The final seconds of Knarr’s aircraft and crew were recorded by accompanying Havoc Shu Shu Baby. Knarr’s Havoc, hit by anti-aircraft fire, banks steeply to starboard as it passes over the tin roofs of Kokas. Knarr’s wingman, Lt Mel Kapson, is perilously close to the disabled Havoc and narrowly misses being hit by flying debris from it as it hits the water. Shu Shu Baby returned with these photographs, riddled with more than 100 holes from machinegun fire and shrapnel.

Бомбардировщик Douglas A-20G был сбит зенитным огнем над Новой Гвинеей и рухнул в море. Подобное случалось еще много раз в течение всей войны на Тихом океане, пока американские самолеты штурмовали японские оборонительные рубежи.

Lt James Knarr in the cockpit of his A-20G. The aircraft name and accompanying Greek characters remain a mystery. Knarr being an academic, the name probably had some classical connection.