B-25D Mitchell Serial Number 41-30613

USAAF
7th AF
41st BG
396th BS

 

 

Shot Down  January 19, 1944
MACR  1900

Mission History
Shot down during a mission to bomb
the Japanese airbase at Mili. The plane was approaching Mili Lagoon at an altitude of 75-100 feet when exploding anti-aircraft shells damaged the forward part of the fuselage. It went down in the lagoon just in front of the Japanese headquarters. Two died in the crash but a Japanese patrol boat picked up five surviving crew members who were badly burned and injured. The five crew members received medical treatment and were then brutally tortured and interrogated. After 10 days, Japanese army and navy commanders who were later prosecuted for war crimes, beheaded all five crew members. Their remains have never been located.

Wreckage
Located about a mile from shore, the bomber was discovered during an underwater survey in 2001 by Matt Holly.

Matt Holly adds:
"The aircraft is in excellent condition with the main fuselage and wings intact, however, the tail and engines evidently detached on impact and have not yet been found. The cockpit is also well-preserved with controls, gauges, pilots'seat, radios, top turret with twin 50 caliber machine gun shells, piles of live 50 caliber machine gun shells and both waist guns. The B-25 is protected by Marshall Islands law and the Mili Atoll Local Government has banned diving at the site until the aircraft has been thoroughly documented by the RMI Historical Preservation Office."

Contribute Information

 

Tech Info
B-25

SCUBA
107'

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