Pacific Wrecks Forum

i'm a commercial pilot, son of career us navy aviator who started his combat tours in 1943, flying pby blackcats for vp-12 in the solomons. his squadron lost crew #3, in pby5a #48259 when they crashed into a mountain during bad weather in night ops over choiseul, march 8, 1943.

in 1993 my father, a squadron mate and i flew back to choiseul and left a memorial vp-12 squadron scarf and plaque to be displayed in the terminal, memorializing the lost crew.

we did not have time to start a search for the wreckage.

does anyone know if the pby has been found and whether our memorial to the nine lost airman remains intact on choiseul?

oops--

make the the date of the crash, march 8, 1944.

First of all, welcome to the Forum!

I'm currently trying to locate the names of the crew of PBY-5 BuNo 48259. So far I have only been able to locate one name - Lt(jg) C Burkhardt - which is not listed on the American Battle Monuments Commission website, suggesting that either his remains have been recoverd, or simply the name is incorrect.

A photo of 48259 can be found at the following page:
http://www.crockermediaexpressions.com/ ... -640w.html

Are you able to provide the names of the crew members?

PBY 48259 Crew listing {reference only-copyrighted} link at http://www.vpnavy.com/vp12_mishap_1940.html

PF wrote:PBY 48259 Crew listing {reference only-copyrighted} link at http://www.vpnavy.com/vp12_mishap_1940.html

This link has been changed. It is now http://www.vpnavy.com/vp12_mishap.html