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DELIVERY TO
OBLIVION - UNRESOLVED
B-25G-5-NA U.S serial
#42-64807, 38th Bombardment Group Disappeared near Kokoda, Papua
New Guinea 21 January 1944
At 1056 hours on 21st
January 1944, this Mitchell piloted by Captain David C. Bryant Jnr, departed
Durand Field, Port Moresby for an administrative flight to Dobodura. On board as
passengers Bryant was to deliver a crew from the 823rd Bombardment Squadron,
38th Bombardment Group who were then going to return another Mitchell to Durand
from Dobodura. Also aboard was a passenger, Lt Jones of the 431st
Fighter Squadron, 475th Fighter Group, returning to join his unit after a
leave break.
Fourth Fighter Sector reported tracking the plane as far as ten miles
South East of Kokoda, after which it disappeared from the radar plot. At around
the same time an Australian patrol at Myola later reported the sound of a
twin-engined aircraft in a dive, in the same location as the last radar plot.
The same Australian patrol also said that natives reported a loud explosion at
the same location.
When the bomber failed to arrive at Dobodura, Lt Payne from the 38th
requisitioned a Mitchell and conducted a search over local areas and swamps
until darkness forced his return. He found nothing.
At 0730 hours the next
morning the Squadron, on full alert, dispatched twelve Mitchells to cover a
search area one hundred miles wide over the planned track of the missing
aircraft. Several sightings were made of various crashed aircraft, but upon
checking it was found that none of the sightings were the missing Mitchell.
The country in which the
missing aircraft is believed to have crashed is extremely rugged with very few
natives or tails. Many other crashed aircraft, including Japanese ones, are in
the same locality. If you have ever walked, or tried to walk this area, you
would understand why such an aircraft could disappear without a trace. Where is
the wreckage ? The answer is probably exactly where it was last reported. The
chances of finding it, even with a consolidated search, are remote. The terrain
is that hostile, the jungle that thick. MIA wrecks like this will continue to
be located for the next one, perhaps two or three, hundred years.
Those aboard, including the crew were:
Pilot : Captain David C. Bryant
Jnr (Window Rock, Arizona)
Co-pilot 1/Lt George E. Summers
(Endicott, New York)
1/Lt John H. Stewart (Hollidaysburg,
Pennsylvania)
1/Lt Joseph F. Meyers (Larchmont,
New York)
Lt Jones (unknown details)
475th Fighter Group
1/Lt Daniel E. Goodwin (Seattle,
Washington)
2/Lt Alden J. Chatwin (Calipatria,
California)
2/Lt MacLeod Jones (Stillwater,
Minnesota)
2/Lt George E. Alderfer (Wadsworth,
Ohio)
T/Sgt John H. Greenfield (Long
Island, New York)
S/Sgt Ted P. Shabowski (Gary,
Indiana)
S/Sgt Elmer W. Back (Kalamazoo,
Michigan)
Sgt Leslie G. Tucker (Warren,
Arkansas)
Rest in Peace
(Information mainly from Aerothentic’s
data bases and Missing Air Crew Report MACR 1848)