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| USAAF 13th AF 11th BG 26th BS  USAAF December 1941 or January 1942  AP February 3, 1943 |
Pilot Woodruff (survived) Passenger Major General Nathan F. Twining C.O. 13th AF (survived) Ditched January 27, 1943 MACR none Aircraft History Built by Boeing at Seattle. Constructors Number 2214. Delivered to the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) as B-17E Flying Fortress 41-2403. Ferried overseas via Hickam Field across the Pacific to the South Pacific (SoPAC). Wartime History Assigned to the 13th Air Force (13th AF), 11th Bombardment Group (11th BG), 26th Bombardment Squadron (26th BS). No known nose art or nickname. On December 16, 1942 at 6:45am took off from Bomber 1 Airfield on Espiritu Santo (Buttons) piloted by Captain Edward Steedman as one of six B-17s led by Captain Hall on a bombing mission against Munda Airfield on New Georgia. Each bomber was armed with twenty 100 pound fragmentation bombs. At 11:58am when the formation arrived over the target they spotted Japanese fighters that did not intercept. After bombing, the formation was intercepted by twelve Japanese Zeros. Mission History On January 27, 1943 took off from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal piloted by Woodruff on a flight bound for Espirito Santo. Aboard was a total of fourteen crew and passengers including Major General Nathan F. Twining. This B-17 ditched south of Guadalcanal in the open sea with everyone aboard surviving unhurt. Fates of the Crew The survivors deployed both of the B-17s life rafts and spent five days and six nights floating at sea before being spotted and rescued. The life rafts had no radio and they were unable to transmit their fate or location. Search Both U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) and U.S. Navy (USN) planes searched for the missing plane and crew including B-26 Marauders, B-25 Mitchells and PBY Catalinas. Rescue On February 2, 1943 a pair of life rafts were spotted by a PBY Catalina that landed to rescue them. The four U.S. Navy officers responsible for the rescue were later commended for the rescue including Commander Charles P. Coe, Commander John F. Greenslade, Commander J. R. Paschal and Lt. Commander John B. Bowen. The life rafts had no radio, an item which Lieutenant General Millard F. Harmon, Commanding General of U.S. Army Forces in the South Pacific, had been requesting for some time. This incident resulted in dinghy radio sets being added to survival equipment. References USAF Serial Number Search Results - B-17E Flying Fortress 41-2403 "2403 ditched off Guadalcanal Jan 26, 1943, crew picked up by PBY 5 days later. Plane officially condemned Jul 15, 1944" No Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) was created for this loss. Diary of James B. Story (B-26 Marauder pilot): "We had a big search mission day before yesterday, A General and a Colonel went down in a B-17 and we were out with with a drag net trying to locate anything that looked like life boat, etc. We flew about 4 hours and were ending our mission when our bombardier sighted what he thought was a life raft so we circled around for another- look and saw several more little orange spots in the ocean and we jumped up and down as we Figured it was them. We circled around and around our speed of 200 mph and at low altitude of 300 feet made vision very difficult and we strained our eyes to see each little piece that we saw. Some times swore I saw men on them other times I wasn't sure. Some looked like boxes but at that speed and altitude they whizzed by so fast that its' almost impossible to tell what it was. After we saw about 7 of them we started a large circle with all the little dots on the middle, it was almost like a merry go-around and after so long you felt like you're spinning in so we went around in another direction. We decided to radio in about it and we got the answer keep circling and relive would be sent to take our place. About 30 minutes later another B-25 came and relieved us and we went home as our gas was very low. The navy PBY went out there later and looked around but didn't land and reported nothing out there. Maybe I'm wrong but I still believe there were something more than boxes out there and I don't believe the PBY ever saw the place where we circles." YouTube "U.S. Army Fliers Rescued In The South Pacific 1943" Contribute Information Are you a relative or associated with any person mentioned? Do you have photos or additional information to add? Last Updated
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