JOINT POW/MIA ACCOUNTING COMMAND (JPAC)
Public Affairs (808) 448-1937
public_affairs@jpac.pacom.mil
HICKAM AFB, HAWAII – A JPAC recovery team left this week for Fiji for approximately 30 days to excavate a site associated with a service member missing from World War II.
The loss relates to a P-39 Airacobras aircraft crash. On April 22, 1942, two P-39s departed for a wartime sortie. Ten minutes later, the mission was called off and the pilots were ordered to return to base. Only one aircraft returned. The other pilot was never seen nor heard from again.
In August 2004, a local hunter discovered wreckage and ammunition associated with the missing P-39 deep in the jungles of north Suva, Fiji.
JPAC investigation team members subsequently surveyed the site and recommended that the command dispatch a recovery team to excavate the site. Items recovered from the site will be returned to the JPAC laboratory for analysis in hopes of resolving the mystery of the missing Airacobras pilot.
