Special Projects

Project # 2 - Hal Cope’s B-25 “The Wolfpack”

Retired United States Air Force Colonel Hal Cope was Aircraft Commander/Pilot of “The Wolfpack”, a B-25 specially modified to carry six 50 caliber machine guns in the nose. “The Wolfpack” along with other B-25's of the famous 498th Bomber Squadron conducted low level skip bombing raids against Japanese shipping at Rabaul Harbor and other locations in the Pacific during WW II. I learned about Hal at my work through his daughter in-law who knew I appreciated talking with pilots of all wars. Like many pilots of WW II, Hal is humble about his role in the war. Hal sees it as “just doing his job along with everyone else”. Not much to describe the actions of a group of men who flew so low over the water that Japanese gunners had to fire down to try and hit the bombers as the skipped bombs into the side of enemy shipping. Hal didn’t have any pictures of his aircraft in the Pacific Theater as I wanted to recreate the aircraft as a model. All he had were some artistic renderings one of his crew members created after each mission.

After photographing all the reference material he had I began building “The Wolfpack” using Monograms 1/48 scale B-25. I had to convert the kit back to an early B-25 by moving the current back towards the rear of the fuselage and change the engines. Before the cannon mounted B-25's arrived the early models had the 50 calibers mounted through the glass in the nose, which were then painted over. I asked Hal why he and his crew named their aircraft they had brought over new from the states “The Wolfpack” figuring it was probably an aggressive name designed to pump up the crew. Wrong. Hal said all the guys were bachelors. Hal went onto fly B-47's with SAC and retired a Colonel. After building the model I photographed it extensively and place it into photographs I had taken over the ocean and various places which appeared like islands in the pacific. It then gave me great pleasure to present the model and a large print to Hal. I’m pleased and honored to be able to say Hal and his lovely wife Louise, my friends. Note! The black & white picture of Hal and his crew was taken when they first arrived in the Pacific. The colorful bird markings were added later. Also the jacket Hal is wearing as he stands in front of his plane is the original. I’ve also enclosed a picture of the original artwork Hal’s artistic crew member created after each mission.

page 2