Aircraft History
Built by Curtiss in Buffalo, New York. Delivered to the U. S. Army. Assigned to Project "X" on December 22, 1941. Disassembled and shipped overseas bound for the Philippines. Instead shipped to Australia and reassembled.

Wartime History
Assigned to the 5th Air Force, 49th Fighter Group, 7th Fighter Squadron. No known nickname or nose art.

Mission History
On November 22, 1942 took off from 3-Mile Drome near Port Moresby, one of four P-40s that escorted RAAF Beaufighters and A-20s on a mission against Lae. Between Kutuna and Cape Ward Hunt, the formation came under attack by six A6M2 Zeros and a dog fight ensued. Possibly, shot down over the Buna area. This P-40 failed to return when the rest of the formation returned at 6:40pm.

Memorials
Dittler was officially declared dead on February 6, 1946. He is memorialized on the tablets of the missing at Manila American Cemetery.

References
Missing Air Crew Report 16287 (MACR) was created retroactively circa 1946-1948
RAAF Casualty Card - Type unknown 22 Nov 42 New Guinea
"455. Dittler, Donald O. 1st Lt. O-430924 22 Nov 42 [sic, relates to P-400 Airacobra AP377]
Protect & Avenge pages 90-92
American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) - Donald C. Dittler
FindAGrave - 1Lt Donald C Dittler (tablets of the missing)

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Last Updated
June 29, 2019