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| RAAF No. 75 Squadron |
Pilot Sgt Ronald Summerson Bailey, 401770 (MIA / KIA) Merbein, VIC Crashed March 28, 1942 Aircraft History Built by Curtiss. Delivered to the U.S. Army serial number unknown. Disassembled and shipped overseas to Australia and reassembled. Wartime History During March 1942, delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as Kittyhawk serial number A29-5. Assigned to No 75 Squadron with fuselage code "E". Mission History On March 28, 1942 at 1:10pm took off from 7 Mile Drome near Port Moresby piloted by Sgt Ronald S. Bailey with P-40E Kittyhawk A29-12 piloted by F/O J. W. Piper to intercept a large formation of Japanese aircraft approaching. At 2:00pm F/O Piper flying at 10,000' spotted three Japanese bombers at about 18,000' escorted by two Zero approximately 4,500' higher. Afterwards, F/O Piper saw this aircraft being chased by a Zero approximately 20 to 30 miles north of Kekeni Rocks near Redscar Bay approximately 50 miles northwest of Port Moresby. Search At 4:07pm P-40E Kittyhawk piloted by F/O Piper took off to search for Bailey's missing plane, but returned at 5:40pm reporting they had seen no trace of an aircraft or parachute. An extensive search for 10-14 days also had nil results. Wreckage The remains of a P-40 were later located by Lt. Bishop from the Australian Army in a swamp near Veimari Plantation. Lt Bishop recovered some pieces of the aircraft, but was unable to recover the remains of the pilot. On March 29, 1947, F/Lt Coape-Smith and F/O Cogswell of the RAAF Searcher Team located the crash site, however there was no sign of the aircraft or pilot and locals stated that it had since sunk into the swamp. The pieces of aircraft wreckage Lt Bishop had recovered were found on a log platform approximately 300 yards from the crash site - serial numbers on these pieces confirmed that the aircraft was Kittyhawk A29-5. Memorials Sgt Bailey was officially declared dead the day of the mission. He is commemorated on the Port Moresby Memorial at the Bomana War Cemetery on panel 9. References ADF Serials - Kittyhawk A29-5 AWM Sergeant Ronald Summerson Bailey CWGC - Ronald Summerson Bailey FindAGrave - Sergeant Ronald Summerson Bailey (photo) 44 Days (2016) pages 137-138 Thanks to Greg Williams and Daniel Leahy for additional information Contribute Information Are you a relative or associated with any person mentioned? Do you have photos or additional information to add? Last Updated March 26, 2021 |
 P-40  MIA 1 Missing |
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