Crew History
Loewenberg was an Intelligence Officer, 5th Bomber Command, HQ. He was born in Brooklyn, NY and grew up in Sea Cliff, Long Island. He was married before the war and moved back to Brooklyn.

Aircraft History
Delivered to the US Army on June 22, 1942. Equipped at McClellan Air Base and departed from Hamilton Field on July 28, 1942 for Hickam Field. Ferried overseas by Captain James A. Barnett via Christmas Islands, Jarvis Island, Canton Island, Fiji Islands, New Caledonia, the arrived at Brisbane on August 6, 1942. Nicknamed "Pluto" with the Disney character, painted by Sgt Ernie Vandal.

This B-17 flew combat familiarization flights with the 19th BG based in Australia and 7-Mile Drome at Port Moresby.

Piloted by Major Felix Hardison on a bombing raid against Rabaul on August 29, 1942. Transferred to the 43rd BG, 63rd BS, where it was assigned to James T. Murphy until February 1943, when the bomber was modified to fly long range reconnaissance missions. On March 2, 1943 this B-17 was piloted by Lt. Herbert Derr on an 11 hour mission to shadow the Japanese convoy from Rabaul bound for Lae, radioing reports about position and weather to 5th Bomber Command. This convoy was attacked and sunk during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea.

Steve Birdsall adds:
"A bit more about 41-24384, mostly from notes I made when I met Ephron James at a 43rd reunion: "Jimmy Murphy was the only second-lieutenant aircraft commander in the group, outranked by 1/Lt Neill Kirby, his co-pilot", so "they were usually last over the target". Murphy flew the plane on the first 63rd Squadron mission and very regularly up to and including the big February 14, 1943 mission. Ephron James told me, "Pluto was taken away from us and set up for long range photo missions". After that there's no sign of 41-24384 again until March 2, when Herbert Derr took her on an 11 hours and 20 minutes recco of the Bismarck Sea. The next day James DeWolf flew an 8 hours 15 minutes recco on March 3, then the aircraft doesn't appear in 63rd Squadron again and is not shown as a March loss in their accounting."

Joe Hirsh (43rd BG, former navigator of "Pluto") recalls:
"While the plane was being equipped at McClellan Air Base in August '42. I was the one in charge of outfitting the bomber. Afterwards, they asked me what I wanted to call it. I liked dogs so I suggested "Pluto" and that became the nickname. I was part of the crew that ferried her to Australia and I carved my name and initials under the navigator's table. Originally we had 30 caliber machine guns in the nose, we replaced them with 50 caliber."

Although a MACR was filed for this loss, the engine and weapon serial numbers fields are left blank. Only the aircraft's serial number is noted. It was not uncommon for loss forms to be filled out only partially, if certain details were unknown.

Mission History
It is unclear who was the pilot of this B-17. Although the MACR lists Ramey as the pilot, it is possible he is simply listed as 'pilot' since he was the ranking officer. Or, if another took over flying once airborne.

Took off at 9:15am from 7-Mile Drome near Port Moresby on an administrative flight to Merauke and Horn Island, then return to Port Moresby. This aircraft departed Port Moresby at 0915 for a reconnaissance mission to Merauke and Horn Island. The radio operator "checked in" with the ground station 20 minutes after take off. There was no further communication with the aircraft. While underway they possibly encountered bad weather. The crew was experienced and no reason for the loss has ever surfaced. General Douglas MacArthur was concerned that Ramey might have fallen into Japanese hands, as well as Lt. Commander Mannoccir.

Search Missions
Search missions were carried out in the days following the crash, but found no definitive wreckage or survivors.

Joe Hirsh (43rd BG, former navigator of "Pluto") recalls:
"I was the Pluto's navigator from August 1942 through Mar 1943 and to my knowledge am the last surviving crew member. We had flown a night bombing mission just prior to the crash and were scheduled to fly another in the next few days. The crew aboard at the time of crash was another crew. We did not know that General Ramey would be using "Pluto", and some of my gear remained aboard at the time of the crash, including my Naval sextant.

I participated in several of the subsequent search missions and at the time we all suspected that they had been shot down by Japanese float planes that routinely patrolled that area. The search for "Pluto" was was due west [from Port Moresby] and returned due east. I sat in the co-pilot seat and we flew at 100-200', the water and sky were clear. I used Pan American maps at the time. Around the latitude of the Admiralty Islands due west, we saw a school of white sharks on the surface and a pool of oil. The second day visibility was 60% clouds, and we could not see the oil slick nearly as well as the first day."

Memorials
Borinquen Army Air Field at Aguadilla, Puerto Rico was renamed Ramey Air Force Base In honor of Brigadier General Howard K. Ramey (1896-1943).

Wreckage
No trace of this bomber has been found. A news report in February 2007 reported the discovery of an aircraft wreck off Cape York, and claimed it to be B-17 "Pluto". This claim was unsupported with serial number evidence, and Photo and video of the wreck points to an identity of a C-47 or derivative instead.

Relatives
David Shulman (grandson of Loewenberg)
Are you a relative of a crew member of this bomber? Contact Us

References
Pride of Seattle page 7, 17
Thanks to Steve Birdsall and David Shulman for additional information

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Last Updated
November 8, 2009

B-17

MIA

Flight Route on Google Earth