19th / 22nd / 33rd Bomb Groups, Australia & Papua New Guinea ------> "Red Raiders" Photo Gallery by Tom Beech at pbase.com

19th / 22nd / 33rd Bomb Groups, Australia & Papua New Guinea ------> "Red Raiders"

Saving some very old negatives that survived a war and then a flood where stacks of negatives were stuck together into a solid stack. Most needed lots of work to get this far...many are far from perfect, but do show the people and equipment of this harsh period in our past.

The photographs survived where many of the subjects did not.

Thanks to my friend Dan Moffett who saved his negatives from his service days and made sure I got them in his will

Much later, I made friends with Joe "Tony" Marotta who was also stationed in Australia with Red Raiders, Joe had several more photos and stories to share with me

USAAF 22nd Bomb Group manned B-26 Mauraders and B-25 Mitchells from 1940 until 1943 when it was given B-24 Liberators and moved north to Papua, New Guinea, and to Nadzab

Click on any photo to view larger versions...'Original' is best choice

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	Martin B-26 Marauder, Australia 1940-1943	Muroc Lake Army Air Base ~ later to become Edwards Air Force Base
	B-25, Australia 1940-43	B-24 Liberator
	Shaving a bar of soap		Martin B-26 Marauder, Australia 1940-1943
		B-24 engine swap		B-25, Australia 1940-43
B-24 Top turret gun maintenance ~ Papua New Guinea 1943+	Some Red Raiders in ordnance ~ Australia	Martin B-26 Marauder... nose gear collapsed on landing, Australia 1940-1943 (1 of 2)	Martin B-26 Marauder... nose gear collapsed on landing, Australia 1940-1943 (2 of 2)	Missions go nowhere without the ground crew

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John Cooper		17-Feb-2025 23:01
The Ambassador from Paupua New Guinea in London offered me a Visa to visit his country. It was quite difficult to get one, many travelers were begging for them. Unluckily for me, I was newly married and our son had just been born and life was very hard. If I were single I would have gone on the next plane. Still, never mind eh.

Walter Otto Koenig		05-Dec-2022 22:05
Fascinating gallery. Great to see these old photographs.

Dov		09-Nov-2018 23:39
Great historical events gallery. Thanks for sharing. V

Milan Vogrin		04-Nov-2018 22:32
Great collection.

Ton T.		14-Oct-2018 17:40
A very interesting gallery Tom! V

Dan Greenberg		09-Sep-2018 14:07
Incredible collection! You did a remarkable job of restoring and presenting them. ~BV~

Long Bach Nguyen		08-Sep-2018 15:52
fantastic collection of historical images Tom...keep posting

Dennis Steinauer		08-Sep-2018 04:09
Pretty remarkable photos. Thanks for sharing. Are they family (e.g., father)? Looks like at least some were taken in the Pacific.

janescottcumming		03-Sep-2018 17:16
While looking through your galleries to see if you had one on Lisbon I came across this gem. Made me realized I need to start scanning my dad's photos from when he was in Africa working for Pam Am and delivering supplies to the troops. V

Marc Demoulin		08-Mar-2010 20:08
A great series with a lot of historical value. vVv marc

John Walters		06-Nov-2008 04:31
My uncle Raymond J. Flanagan was a pilot in this group. A graduate of Ohio State in Agriculture, joined AAC in 1940. He flew 25 missions in Europe, then was dispatched to the Elusion (Alaska) Islands. Flew for 4 to 6 months before ariving at Port Morsby in late 1943. After the war, he was a test pilot for Fairchild aircraft until the middle of 1960's. Do you have any additional information. I have a picuture of his rag-tag crew in New Guinia. I need to get it digitized to post. Any recommendations?

Margaret Tyndall		01-Aug-2006 20:27
My Dad served with the 22nd red raiders, Charlie Phillips. He spoke very little about it. I know he thought Australia was beautiful and didn't care for New Guinea. He was a gunner on the B26s. I enjoyed looking at the pictures and thank you for your service which has protected us offspring. We owe you guys so much. Margaret Tyndall

click on thumbnails for full image