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  P-38H Lightning Serial Number ?  
USAAF
5th AF
8th FG
36th FS

Pilot  2nd Lt. Irwin Weiss, O-810442 (MIA / KIA) Far Rockaway, NY
MIA  March 19, 1944
MACR  none

Aircraft History
Built by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation (LAC) in Burbank. Constructors Number unknown. Delivered to the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) as P-38H Lightning serial number unknown. Disassembled and shipped across the Pacific and reassembled.

Wartime History
Assigned to the 5th Air Force (5th AF), 8th Fighter Group (8th FG), 36th Fighter Squadron (36th FS) "The Flying Fiends". No known nickname, nose art or markings.

Mission History
On March 19, 1944 took off from Finschafen Airfield (Dreger) piloted 2nd Lt. Irwin Weiss on a mission over Wewak. Over the target, the right engine caught fire causing this P-38 to dive into the sea 15 miles north of Kairiru Island. When this aircraft failed to return it was officially declared Missing In Action (MIA).

Memorials
Weiss was officially declared dead the day of the mission. He earned the Purple Heart, posthumously. Weiss is memorialized at Manila American Cemetery on the tablets of the missing.

References
NARA World War II Army Enlistment Records - Irwin Weiss
American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) - Irwin Weiss
FindAGrave - 2Lt Irwin Weiss (tablets of the missing)
The Jewish Floridian August 18, 1944 page 7
"Lt. Irwin Weiss, 22, of Far Rockaway, N. Y. a USAAF fighter pilot in service a year and a half, was killed in action at Wewak, New Guinea."

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Last Updated
April 19, 2021

 

Tech Info
P-38

MIA
MIA
1 Missing

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