Aircraft History
Assigned to the 3rd Bombardment Group, 8th Bombardment Squadron. Engine R-2699-23 serial numbers a) 42-154316 b) 42-104062. No serial numbers for the weapons were noted on the day of loss.

Mission History
Took off from Hollandia Airfield on a varied course to on a low-level attack against Babo Airfield. Damaged by anti-aircraft fire over the target, causing an oil leak and made a controlled ditching into Bentoni Bay near Babo. The aircraft stayed above water for about 1.5 minutes, and was observed by three other A-20 pilots.

Both crew were last seen in their life raft. After the crash, A-20 piloted by 1/Lt Brown circled the ditching site for twenty minutes and dropped supplies to them, and last observed that they had made it to shore. Noting their location, Brown returned to Hollandia and notified air-sea rescue.

The next day, a PBY Catalina #33 was assigned to search for the crew was unable to take off due to bad weater and was assigned to search another area on the 19th. No search could be made due to weather until June 20, when a PBY finally was assigned, but was recalled 2/3 of the way to the crash site, for reasons unknown. On June 21 another PBY escorted by two fighters searched the crash area for 1 1/2 hours but saw no sign of the crew, aside frorm a native canoe. This was the only search mission that reached the crash site area. Each of the search missions was flown by Lt. Brown who had observed the crash.

Memorials
Both crew were officially declared dead on February 14, 1946. Memorialized on the tablets of the missing at Manila American Cemetery

Relatives
Sue Ryan adds:
"I wasn't born until after his death but will give you a brief history about him made by my cousin John Eddy, who was about 11 years old when his plane went down [ Read Account ]"

References
MACR 6583 - successful search is listed as June 21 and 23 on two different pages, unclear which date is accurate
Thanks to Edward Rogers for additional information

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Last Updated
October 1, 2009