M is for Mitchell

What was in a name…They said that a rose by any other name would still smell sweet, but Rachet wasn't so sure. He had seen so many planes come under his welding torch to know that names sometimes seemed to dictate the outcomes of his patients. Perhaps it was because on the battlefield names were as earned as given, and it wasn't uncommon for a warplane's name to change over time based on their particular flight path through life.

No plane exemplified this as much as one of the B-25s he served with back in the 321st Bomber Group during the Big One. Like many Mitchells, that particular plane was regularly shot to slag flying missions over war-torn Europe, but unlike its fellows, this plane proved to both be ridiculously lucky and an absolute trouble magnet at the same time. Over the years of conflict, this aircraft had earned the name Patches, taking over 400 bullet holes over the 300 combat missions that he had flown. Even though Patches' nose art had simply been his name, he ended up being one of the most colorful aircraft in the whole US Army Air Corps Fleet because each one of those holes was marked with a flack hole patch painted with bright yellow zinc chromate paint.

Patches had been the only plane that Ratchet had ever met that actually seemed grateful to be put down instead of being brought home at the end of the war. The poor plane's frame had been so badly twisted by enemy fire and belly landings that he was no longer capable of flying straight. By the end, he was crabbing so badly that the higher-ups determined that he probably wouldn't be able to make it back across the ocean and that the most humane thing would let the poor creature rest. In the end, Patches' suffering had ended under the skillful hands of his crew chief while he was surrounded by the members of his crew and flight mates. There had not been a dry eye in the crowd as the final goodbyes had been said and Patches had slept into a sleep for which he would never wake.

Ratchet, as a military mechanic, had witnessed hundreds of deaths before that one, and he had witnessed hundreds since. Still, he never forgot the look in Patches' eyes as he shouldered his suffering with a determination that made every mechanic bust their afts to get him back into the air…and he never forgot when that determination and will for life flickered and faded away. It was a memory that was burned deep into his soul, and it was one he acted on whenever triage allowed.

At the moment, Rachet was being faced with a plane that was standing at just one of those crossroads. By all indications, the plane in front of him was too far gone to be saved, but the look in the C-119's eyes told the mechanic that despite his scars, this plane still had fight in him…that the plane still wanted to live and fight another day. He looked into the blue eyes of the plane in front of him and let out a sigh. It would be so much easier to let the aircraft in front of him go, but Rachet didn't become a mechanic to take the easy path.

Decision made; he patted the plane with the broken spare. "Alright, Captain Cabbie McHale, let's see what you are made of."

With that, he lit his touch and got to work, hoping that Cabbie was a good enough name to see this airplane through the litany of repairs he was about to face.

North American B-25 Mitchell: Named in honor of Major General William 'Billy' Mitchell, a pioneering aviator who was the first to figure out how to sink a ship using an aircraft, the B-25 Mitchell was a military aircraft that served for four decades and in every theater of WWII. From its introduction in 1941 to its official retirement from service in 1979, just shy of 10,000 aircraft rolled off the assembly line. This medium bomber was known for being able to take a pounding, with the poster child of this ability being aircraft 'Patches.'

Currently, there are over 100 Mitchells on static display in museums across the world and roughly 45 planes that are still airworthy. Because of a large number of these aircraft are still flyable, they can occasionally be seen flying in formation for movies or to perform commemorative flyovers in honor of events which B-25s played a major role, such as the Doolittle Raid.