An interactive map displaying the WW2 flights piloted by Captain William H. Cather, USAAF. Clicking on a white destination dot will produce a popup containing mission information. Imagery courtesy of Earthstar Geographics and Esri.
According to enlistment card data presented on the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA AAD) website, William H. Cather was born in 1918 in Jefferson County, Alabama. His education level was one year of college and he was employed in the printing business. It appears that he re-enlisted on September 6, 1942 as a Staff Sergeant in the Army Air Corps. He had the status of “Flying Sergeant” and was later commissioned as an officer.
Captain Cather was one of the original cadre of the 501st Bomb Squadron, 345th Bomb Group and deployed to the South West Pacific Area with them in the spring of 1943. He flew missons as a B-25 pilot during the June 1943 through February 1944 time frame. His flight data is presented on these maps and was derived from archived mission reports and load lists.
After returning to the US and resuming work in his family’s printing business, he authored and self-published a book of his recollections of the October 18, 1943 unescorted raid on Rabaul (Gunfight at Rabaul: The True Story of an Unescorted Raid by B-25 Strafers)
