B-25 Maid in the Shade

B-25 Maid in the Shade

That is our very own "Maid in the Shade" B25 from the Commemorative Airforce's Airbase Arizona! Go to AZCAF.org for more. It served in WWII out of Corsica and flew several combat missions. We take her around the country throughout the summer where folks can come tour through her and even purchase a ride! - Comment from William Willoughby

Corsica? Wait a minute, wasn't Catch-22 set in the mediterranean? Yes, it was, but it was set on the nearby island of Pianosa. Pianosa is a tiny island, about 2 miles across, about halfway across the 50 miles separating Corsica from the Italian mainland.

Corsica, Pianosa and Brenner Pass

Wikipedia has this to say about Pianosa during WW2:

During World War II, on 17 September 1943, German troops invaded Pianosa and occupied it. On 19 March 1944 French commandos landed on the island, and after a short firefight left taking away 40 prison guards as hostages. 

Wikipedia has this to say about Corsica during WW2:

After the collapse of France to the German Wehrmacht in 1940, Corsica came under the rule of the Vichy French regime, which was collaborating with Nazi Germany. In November 1942 the island was occupied by Italian and German forces following the Anglo-American landings in North Africa. After the Italian armistice in September 1943, Italian and Free French Forces pushed the Germans out of the island, making Corsica the first French Department to be freed. Subsequently, the US military established 17 airfields, nicknamed "USS Corsica", which served as bases for attacks on targets in German-occupied Italy.

The New York Times has a story by John Tagliabue that starts with this:

SOLENZARA, Corsica — So many U.S. planes and airmen were stationed on this French Mediterranean island during World War II that they called it the USS Corsica - an unsinkable aircraft carrier. Up and down its flat eastern shore stretched a string of 14 airfields, the jumping-off points for B-25 bombers and P-47 fighters that attacked German lines throughout Italy, southern France and Austria.

More than 50,000 U.S. pilots, mechanics, nurses, doctors, cooks, truck drivers and others passed through Corsica after it was taken from its German occupiers in late 1943.

One of the primary targets of the B-25s stationed on Corsica was Brenner Pass on the border between Austria and Germany. Bud's Lawn Care has good summary of this campaign. Since some of his links are broken I thought it might disappear, so I made a copy and posted in in my pages.

Maid in the Shade