The Fire Which Was So Bright - UNRESOLVED ?

Unnamed Consolidated Liberator B-24D-15-CO #41-24077

320^th Bombardment Squadron, 90^th Bombardment Group

Located 1995, Near Okapa Village, Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea

INTRODUCTION

In January of 1995, a Papua New Guinea national, Denny Tomani of Keefu Village near the highlands village of Okapa, Eastern Highlands Province, reported to the History Department of the PNG government that he had located the wreckage of an aircraft shot down during the Second World War. According to Tomani and the Keefu villagers, the aircraft with a crew of eight members (including a female) crashed in the night when it came in very low and on fire.

A loud explosion was heard when the plane crashed and the resultant fire which was so bright (quoting Tomani) that it could be seen by most who lived in the Okapa Valley. The villagers descended on the wreckage the next day. There allegedly they found bodies and buried them. Following the report from Tomani, the John K. McCarthy Museum in Goroka conducted an investigation into the report and confirmed the existence of the wreckage.

A MYSTERY BOMBER

A further survey was conducted of the site, and it was concluded that the wreckage lay at approximately 6.31 South, 145.33 East, at an elevation of 2,000 feet. The general description of site was on the spur of a main ridge on moderate slope in open virgin jungle. The ground was common with surface rock, and the nearest water was approximately twenty minutes away on foot. No remains were located, however bodies were said to be collected by villagers and buried near the site. The location of the mass grave was marked by a "Target Plant", and the position of this plant was said to be held confidential by the landowner. Furthermore, it was stated that the site would only be shown to authorized personnel, whatever that means. No heavy ordinance such as bombs was seen at the site, although there was a significant quantity of .50 calibre cartridges scattered around it. The giveaway was a serial‑number – 124077 - obtained from a badly smashed tail section, but the investigators noted that it did not match any on record in the museum's records. Further contact with the U.S. Army recovery unit CILHI for further information produced the same answer, i.e, CILHI did not have the serial number on their data base. Accordingly, further investigation was recommended.

The PNG Museum has a vast data base, compiled mostly through the work of former Curator, Bruce Hoy. The key to identification is to link the serial with an Missing Aircrew Report, which will identify those aboard. In this case there was no link, and indeed, even Aerothentic could not provide the answer.

The answer finally came when our President was allowed to copy diary extracts from a 320^th Bombardment Squadron (of the 90^th Bombardment Group), and the number 124077 appeared as a loss on 16^th April 1943. Further collaboration with Wiley Woods, the unit’s historian, revealed further data. The bomber, which was unnamed, departed 7-Mile airfield at 0100 hours with five others that morning to participate on an attack against a convoy near Wewak. The pilot is listed as 1/Lt Paul F. Sayer, with no further details. The weather was bad and some found the area only when enemy searchlights were turned on. Returning from the strike, Sayre's Liberator crashed thirty miles south of Bena Bena.. Australian records indicate that a "civilian" found the crash site at 1730 hours that same day, hastily buried the bodies in five graves and then constructed rough wooden crosses at the site. The burial site was given as two miles southeast of Magaguni Village.

Also killed in the crash were;

2/ Lt. James L. White, Jr.,

2/Lt. Robert I. Block,

2/Lt. Robert R. Null,

T/Sgt. Earl E. Godsey,

T/Sgt. Homer L. Bartlett,

S/Sgt. Harold P. Hetelle,

S/Sgt. Milton E. Barber,

S/Sgt. John P. DeMartini

Sgt. Mark H. Briggs.

At least some of the remains were returned to the states after the war however, and in the case of Robert R. Null, his father requested that he be buried beside his brother, Henry O. Null, Jr., at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu. Sayre had been assigned to the 90th Bombardment Group in December 1943 and was one of the early replacement pilots. He flew over in B-24D #41-23875 via Hawaii.

Do more unclaimed crew lie under the plant as claimed ? Were, perhaps, more remains collected post-war, with no reference now appearing against this serial number in U.S records ? No MACR has been found for the aircraft. But CILHI and Aerothentic are working on it. The lack of records is not CILHI’s fault. Often, especially in the case of the 5^th Air Force, such records were either lost or never filled out.

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