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| USAAF 20th AF 73rd BW 498th BG 875th BS  USAAF c1944 |
Pilot 1st Lt Richard C. Stickney, Jr. O-026148 (MIA / KIA, BR) MA Co-Pilot 2nd Lt. Langdon G. Winslow, O-762028 (MIA / KIA, BR) IA Navigator 2nd Lt. Julius N. Hurwitz, O-698120 (MIA / KIA, BR) Bombardier 2nd Lt. Richard F. Thompson, O-700190 (MIA / KIA, BR) PA Engineer 2nd Lt. Howard G. A. King, O-868394 (MIA / KIA, BR) CA AMG Sgt Jack L. Boyd, 35389480 (MIA / KIA, BNR) OH Gunner Sgt Edward M. Zeone, 13047618 (MIA / KIA, BR) PA ROM Sgt Paul M. Haynes, 39039149 (MIA / KIA, BR) Radar Sgt John E Burns, 32369055 (MIA / KIA, BR) NJ CFC Gunner Sgt James O. Merriwether, 34707702 (MIA / KIA, BR) AL Gunner Sgt John P. Quinn, 32671163 (MIA / KIA, BR) Erie County, NY Crashed January 3, 1945 MACR 10853 Aircraft History Built by Boeing. Constructors Number 4409. On December 26, 1944 delivered to the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) as B-29-45-BW Superfortress serial number 42-24748. Project Number 98087-TR. Wartime History Assigned to the 20th Air Force, 73rd Bombardment Wing, 498th Bombardment Group, 875th Bombardment Squadron. Tail code T Square 42. No known nickname or nose art. This B-29 was lost on its first bombing mission. When lost, engine and weapon serial numbers were not noted in Missing Air Crew Report 10853 (MACR 10853). Mission History On January 3, 1945 took off from Isley Field on Saipan piloted by 1st Lt Richard C. Stickney, Jr. armed with incendiary bombs as one of ninety-seven B-29s on a bombing mission against the port facilities and urban areas of Nagoya. Over the target, anti-aircraft fire was meager, and enemy fighter aircraft attacks were moderate. Returning, this bomber crashed on Anatahan Island, killing the entire crew on impact. When this aircraft failed to return it was officially declared Missing In Action (MIA). Wreckage Stranded on Anatahan was a group of Japanese survivors from a shipwreck. After this B-29 crashed, the Japanese survivors used metal from the crash site to fashion crude implements such as pots, knives and roofing for their hut. The oxygen tanks were used to store water, clothing was made from nylon parachutes and the cords used for fishing line. The springs from machine guns were fashioned into fish hooks. Several in the group collected working machine guns and pistols from the wreckage. Recovery of Remains During early 1945, an American team visited the crash site and buried the remains of the crew in a field burial grave. During February 1946, a team from American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) led by Captain Delmar I. McCracken, O-560096 returned to the crash site and recovered the remains of the crew, with the exception of Boyd who remains listed as Missing In Action (MIA). Les Ferguson was part of the AGRS expedition in February 1946: "The tail number from a picture taken of a crashed B-29 on Anatahan. This is a U.S. Army Signal Corps picture taken on the expedition in which I participated, to return the remains of the crew for appropriate burial by Graves Registration people. In an earlier expedition in early 1945, these same remains were found and 'buried as the area would allow'. I was actually on the expedition with a group of Graves Registration people, and the infantry guys that were supposed to protect us from those Japanese/Okinawan people should we run into them and to bring the bags of bones from the crash site as we did our job. For a crew of 10, there were 11 bags." Memorials The entire crew was officially declared the day of the mission. Boyd earned the Air Medal and Purple Heart, posthumously. He remains listed as Missing In Action (MIA). Boyd is memorialized at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) on the courts of the missing, court 7. He also has a memorial marker at Sunset Hills Burial Park in Canton, OH at section 16, row 22. After the recovery of remains, three of the crew were permanently buried at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl). Stickney at plot E row 0 grave 525. Zeone at plot Q grave 161. Merriwether at plot Q grave 83. Winslow is buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery at Section N Site 2161. Last Updated
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 B-29  MIA 1 Missing |
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