Aircraft History
Built by North American Aviation (NAA) at Air Force Plant NC at Fairfax Field near Kansas City, KS. Delivered to the U. S. Army Air Force (USAAF) as B-25J-10-NC Mitchell serial number 43-36012. Ferried overseas via Hickam Field then across the Pacific to the South West Pacific Area (SWPA).

Wartime History
Assigned to the 5th Air Force, 345th Bombardment Group, 501st Bombardment Squadron on October 5, 1944 with crew chief Greenquist. Nicknamed "Lazy Daisy Mae". This was the first B-25 to land at Tacloban Airfield on Leyte on October 28, 1944 and flew missions on November 3, 1944 against Alicante. On January 7, 1945 against Clark Field piloted Jones.

Mission History
On January 9, 1945 took off from Tacloban Airfield on a mission to support the Allied landing at Lingayen Gulf on Luzon. Roughly another hour later, another pilot reported that the plane disappeared from formation at 7,000' into clouds over Sibuyan Island (with a 6,500' peak); there was a sudden flash of light shortly afterwards, and the plane was never seen or heard from again.

Memorials
The entire crew was declared dead the day of the mission. All are memorialized on the tablets of the missing at Manila American Cemetery.

Wreckage
In fact, this B-25 had crashed northwest of Sibuyan on the northern part of Mindoro Island.

During May 1963, a US Army search and recovery team, acting on a tip from Filipinos in the area visited the crash site.

Also found were "five incomplete bones." It was subsequently learned, in February 2008, that the bones had been cremated in 1965 by the Army since they could not be positively identified. No further efforts have been made since 1963 to search for any additional remains at the crash site.

A February 1965 memo in the file notes that the tail boom of the plane was found (with ID number and the Red Raider insignia of the 501st Bombardment Squadron), along with Capt Underwood's ID tag and flight school ring engraved with his name inside. (Nothing was reportedly found from any of the other five crew members.)

Not until August 2002, when the family Capt James Underwood, obtained his Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF), did they learn of the discovery in 1963 or recovery of remains. This was never reported to the Underwood family.

Relatives
James W. Briggs (son of James W. Underwood)

References
Major McBride was the 345th Bombardment Group's bombing and gunnery officer.
Warpath Across The Pacific page 254 (photo) 399, 426-427
Thanks to James W. Briggs for additional information
American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) - James W. Underwood
American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) - William H. Clark
American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) - William J. McBride
American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) - Carl E. Schenzel
American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) - Robert S. Knowlden
American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) - George H. Ray

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Last Updated
February 14, 2020