2Lt. Donald Troup - O-812175 - 67 FS

Alex, this can be found on footnote.com if you search on  Donald Troup.
MACR is 16449.   Serial number of plane is not given.
While strafing the Ambon-Halong area on 15 Sept 1944, at about 1150,  Troup started to dive on a cluster of automatic AA about 200 yards south of Halong.  15 streams of tracers converged on him.  His plane pulled up sharply; it looked as though he zoomed straight up.  After he pulled straight up to about 800 ft,  a large white puff of smoke erupted from his ship.   Troup may have been hit, the plane slipped off on a wing and started down again.  The plane made about three complete right turns on the way down. One pilot thinks Troup was still conscious as he thinks Troup was able to  stop the spin and had started to pull out of the dive.  However, the plane crashed and exploded about 1 mile sw of Halong.   Another statement gives the crash and explosion as 1200 yards ssw of Halong Ramp No. 1.   Pilots buzzed the area after the crash but both the plane and the nearby area were burning and they felt there was no hope that Troup was alive.

Hello Rolland and John,
Sorry for slow response.
Both of you have together solved yet another of my questions.
Many thanks
Alex