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| USAAF 5th AF 5th Fighter Command Headquarters  USAAF 1943 |
Pilot Lt. Col. Thomas J. Lynch, O-338066 5th Fighter Command, Headquarters (MIA / KIA) Hazleton, PA Crashed March 8, 1944 MACR unnumbered, included in Lynch IDPF Aircraft History Built by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation (LAC) in Burbank in late December 1943 as the ninth P-38J-15 built. Purchased under contract number A-35374. Constructors Number 2821. At the factory, completed with an unpainted aluminum finish with olive drab on the upper nose and inner sides of the engine nacelles for anti-glare. On December 29, 1943 accepted by the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF). On December 30, 1943 delivered to the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) as P-38J-15-LO Lightning serial number 42-103987. Project Number 96397-R. Disassembled and shipped overseas and reassembled. Wartime History Assigned to the 5th Air Force (5th AF), 5th Fighter Command (V Fighter Command), Headquarters Squadron (HQ Squadron). No known nickname or nose art. Possibly, number 10 was painted on the nose or tail. When lost, engines V-1710-91 serial numbers A-039026 and V-1710-89 serial number A-038147. Armed with a 20mm cannon maker and serial number unknown plus four .50 caliber machine guns makers and serial numbers unknown. Mission History On March 8, 1944 took off from Nadzab Airfield piloted by Lt. Col. Thomas J. Lynch on a fighter sweep with P-38J 42-103993 pilot Captain Richard I. Bong over Tadji Airfield. Observing no planes in the air or on the ground, they flew westward towards Aitape and spotted Japanese vessels including three small vessels with masts and two barges in Aitape Harbor. Both pilots released their drop tanks and with Lynch leading the attack the pair made a strafing run and claimed they set at least one vessel on fire. As the pair turned, they were targeted by anti-aircraft fire that hit Lynch's P-38 in the right engine, and caused it to burst into flames. Bong's P-38 was also hit in one engine and holed. On the ground at Aitape, the anti-aircraft fire was from the Japanese Navy 90th Garrison Unit under the command of Warrant Officer Hideo Ezawa that engaged the Lightning with two 7.7mm machine guns and three 13mm machine guns. They claimed one P-38 [pilot Lynch] was hit and "the entire nose section [was] blown off and starboard engine on fire." Bong radioed Lynch to bail out. Lynch climbed but was unable to bail out until too low and his parachute barely opened and likely died on impact. From above, Bong witnessed him hit the jungle and his aircraft crash and exploded below him, roughly one mile south-southwest of Aitape. When Lynch failed to return from the mission, he was officially declared Missing In Action (MIA). Statement of Captain Richard I. Bong: "On 8 March, 1944 I accomplished [accompanied] Lieutenant Colonel Thomas J. Lynch on a fighter sweep from Nadzab to Tadji. We sighted 3 luggers and 2 barges in Aitape Harbor just west of Tadji Drome. No enemy aircraft were seen so Lt. Col Thomas J. Lynch dropped his belly tanks and [he] dive down to strafe these boats from land to sea and I followed him down. We turned left and chandelled up and made [a] pass and as I pulled up after him I saw his right propeller falling towards the ocean. I caught up to him and he called me and asked me if I could see him. I answered that I was right beside him and a little below. He turned left back towards land and just as he got over land his right engine caught on fire. The airplane turned right down flaming. About 100 feet above the trees Lt. Col Lynch bailed out, but his chute did not open. The airplane crashed and exploded right below him, one mile south southwest of the village of Aitape. I circled three times but could not spot the parachute or body. I returned to base." Memorials Lynch was officially declared dead the day of the mission. He earned the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) with five Oak Leaf Clusters, Silver Star, Air Medal with nine Oak Leaf Clusters and Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, posthumously. He is memorialized at Manila American Cemetery on the tablets of the missing. He also has a memorial marker at Calvary Cemetery in North Catasauqua, PA. References NARA World War II Army Enlistment Records - Thomas J. Lynch date of birth listed as 1917, sic 1916 Individual Aircraft Record Card (IARC) - P-38J Lightning 42-103993 via AFHRA microfilm reel ACR-75, 2520 USAF Serial Number Search Results - P-38J-15-LO Lightning 42-103987 Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) - Thomas J. Lynch Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) unnumbered, included with IDPF created March 10, 1944 American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) - Thomas J. Lynch FindAGrave - LTC Thomas J Lynch (photos, tablets of the missing) FindAGrave - Thomas J Lynch (photo, memorial marker photo) "Lt. Col Thomas J. Lynch Killed in air duel in S. Pacific, Bride informed; Catasauqua stunned by death of ace" "Major Richard I. Bong Flies P-38 to see Mrs. William J. Lynch, mother of late Catasauqua flier-ace" PNG Museum Aircraft Status Card - P-38J Lightning 42-103987 Dick Bong Ace of Aces (1960, 1980) pages 50-51 March 9, 1944 [sic March 8, 1944] mission Flightpath Magazine "Tropical Lightning Survivor" by Bruce Hoy Volume 4 No. 2 Dear Mom: So We Have A War (1991) by Carl Bong pages 335 (Letter March 13, 1944) (Page 335) "Dear Mom , 3/1344... Everything is okay here, although I'm not in very high spirits now. I suppose you have read in the papers about Col. Kearby [March 5, 1944] and Col. Lynch [March 8, 1944] being lost in action. I was with Lynch at the time and it wasn't pretty." (Page 336) "Did I tell you I picked up a few bullet holes again the day [March 8, 1944] Col. Lynch went down? Nothing serious, but it hurt my pride a little. Cpl Herman Ladner was a member of Bong’s ground crew and recalls the day in these words: 'The only time I saw him nervous was the time he came in after Col. Lynch was shot down. His plane had 87 bullet holes in one engine and the other engine had blown an oil line. Of the 87 bullets, none of them had hit a vital spot. Several times, when he came in, he asked us to remove the gun camera because he had shot down an airplane only to find out the camera had not worked." Stars & Bars (1995) pages 33-34 (35th FG, 39th FS), 415-416 (Lynch) The Missions and P-38 Lightnings of Richard I. Bong: A Synopsis (2002) pages 31 (42-103987) MacArthur's Eagles (2005) pages 130-131, 291 "On 9 March 1944, the great Tommy Lynch died. He and Dick Bong had been successful in the Tadji area, so they set off to sweep the location again. The 78 Sentai sent two Tonys to intercept but did not make contact. The P-38's strafed three luggers offshore and sank Yashima Maru, with the captain and one other man killed and three wounded. The P-38s turned for another pass at twenty feet height. Unknown to Bong and Lynch, a forty-five-man detachment pf the Japanese navy’s 90 Garrison Unit, commanded by Warrant Officer Hideo Ezawa, was onshore, equipped with two light 7.7 mm and three heavy 13 mm machine guns, with 7,000 rounds of ammunition. Some of the unit personnel had only just arrived in New Guinea from Formosa, arrived at Palau on 20 February, and went on to Tadji. They fired at Lynch and Bong, and Bong later reported that on Lynch’s P-38, “the entire nose section [was] blown off and starboard engine on fire.” Lynch pulled up to twenty-five hundred feet to bail out, but did not get out until the P-38 was down to one hundred feet; the fighter exploded, and simultaneously, Lynch’s parachute streamed but did not have time to open. Leading Seaman Amano was credited with the victory, but the Japanese merely claimed a P-38, never knowing they had shot down one of the greatest fighter leaders in the SWPA. Tommy Lynch joined the long list of superior pilots brought down by ground fire. The Japanese navy gunners shot well and almost downed two leading aces, because Bong had to feather one engine to return to base, and his crew chief at Nadzab found eighty-seven bullet holes in the P-38. The loss of Lynch was the only time the ground crew saw Dick Bong show any signs of nervousness. Bong did say that Lynch’s death was the hardest blow he suffered in the war.” AcePilots.com - Thomas Lynch, C.O. 39th FS Contribute Information Are you a relative or associated with any person mentioned? Do you have photos or additional information to add? Last Updated May 19, 2025
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