USAAF
5th AF
35th FG
39th FS
1942 via Rocker
Pilot Hoyt Eason (MIA / KIA)
Crashed March 3, 1943
Aircraft History
This plane was flown by Richard E. Smith on January 6, 1943 when he shot down a Japanese fighter.
Wartime History
Lost over water during Battle of the Bismarck Sea.
Robert Rocker adds:
"39th Fighter Squadron pilot Curran J. Jones told me that during the battle of the Bismarch Sea on his return to base he saw Hoyt Eason's P-38 tail sticking up out of the water circled and saw Eason in the water in his Mae west but when the PBY's looked for him he was never found the fog of war plus that channel is full of sharks between New Britain and New Guinea."
P-38
MIA
