USAAF
5th AF
8th FG
36th FS
Pilot 2nd Lt. Donald Henderson
MIA July 13, 1945
MACR 14752
Aircraft History
No
known nose art or nickname.
Mission History
Lost on an orientation
flight for two newcomer pilots, 2nd Lt.'s Donald Henderson (the number
two plane in the flight). As part of the orientation, the two experienced
pilots showed the new pilots the various air strips located in
the Southwest corner of Mindoro Island, and tested the capabilities
of
the new pilots, the flight leader led the flight into an exercise
called "rat racing," i.e., a series of maneuvers that one might
use in aerial dog fights, etc. As part of this "rat racing," the
flight leader took the group into a split-S dive through clouds.
Lt. Henderson
and Lt. Richard Stier [P-38 44-26538]
never pulled out of this dive. The reason for this is unknown.
Various
reasons have been cited, including
the
possibility
of vertigo by the deceased pilots, the wing compressibility problem
inherent to P-38's during dives, and the possibility that Henderson
and Stier collided when in the clouds.
Mangarin village Wreckage
Stier reports from 2001 visit:
"We immediately learned about a P-38 crash which appeared to be that
of Lt. Henderson, i.e., this pilot's remains of this plane were eventually
turned over to US military authorities in late 1945. Our FVP friends found
a witness (Philippe "Pepe" Castillio) who, as a young boy, had played in the
wreckage at this site in the late 1940's. This man's elder brother and a neighbor
boy had been killed when a "bomb" (20mm shell) they retrieved from this crash
site exploded. This eye witness provided us with a tubular frame part of a
plane he had recovered many years ago from this wreckage site. According to
his testimony, his uncle had seen this plane explode when it crashed into a
swamp near the uncle's home at the end of the war."
P-38
Stier MIA
