USAAF
5th AF
38th BG
823rd BS
November 1943
Pilot 1st Lt. John M. Wieland, O-734287 (Philadelphia,
PA)
Co-Pilot 2nd Lt. Dale R. Nelson, O-738317 (Perry, Iowa)
Navigator 2nd Lt. John R. Stack, O-678086 (Grand Rapids, MI)
Radio SSgt Stanley W. Banko, 33565274 (Everson,
PA)
Gunner SSgt Irvin E. Woolenweber, 35375029
(Wheeling, WV)
Gunner SSgt Willie T. Sharpton, 34269188 (Dacula,
GA)
Crashed November 27, 1943
MACR 1177
Aircraft History
Engines: R-2600-13 Serial Numbers, left 43-23850, right 43-23746
Mission History
It took off from 17-Mile
Drome with good weather and unlimited visibility. The
weather was good and visibility was unlimited on a mission to attack Wewak. The plane
was hit by anti-aircraft fire. Its left aileron and adjacent wing section, left elevator and rudder were shot off, and the aircraft was seen to crash into the sea. Went down at 11:30 a.m. 1.5
miles off Cape
Boram.
Two witnesses in other planes said the plane hit hard, bounced up, and smashed down again; a third witness said the plane hit hard once but settled gently the second time.
Missing In Action
Crew were declared missing in late
1943 and then declared presumed
dead in January 1946. But in April of 1944, short-wave operators
heard radio Tokyo broadcast his name, and his parents' home
address, and
say he was a POW yet he never appeared
on any of the prisoner lists, and of course never came home. His family
still isn't sure if he was fished out of the pacific, held
and killed, or if he died
in the crash and the japanese somehow found his body and dog tags.
B-25
MIA
Crash Map
View on
Google Earth
