The following information was sent to me by Jeas William. More information can be viewed on the PacificWrecks.com web site:
Photographed at Langley Field, VA in September 1943 when the crew completed training in the 2nd Sea Search Attack Squadron, 1st Sea Search Attach Group. Crews from this group were assigned to the "Super Snoopers"
5th AA Force,
43rd BG, 63rd BS in New Guinea to fly night missions with radar for anti-shipping strikes. This entire crew went MIA on December 3, 1943 in B-24 42-40475 in New Guinea.
Top Row (l to r):
Colman,Cassidy,Wallinder,Schechner,Morgan and Fraser
Bottom Row (l to r): Miecias,Caruso, Frank,Turner* (*Turner was not aboard B-24 42-40475), Pvt. Joseph Thompson and Ronald F. Ward were in addition to the crew pictured in this photo.
Mission History
This Liberator went missing between
Dobodura and Hanover Island,
Bismarck Sea area on an armed reconnaissance of the area. It radioed at 0035/L "
Why aren't lights on?", presumably as it could not find
Dobodura. This was the last message from the aircraft, and further attempts to establish radio contact failed. A two day search of the area north of
Cape Gloucester, its last reported position, failed to locate any sign of the B-24D Liberator bomber aircraft.
The aircraft became lost-in-action (
MIA) on
December 3, 1943 Wreckage
John Douglas made a visit to
Deboin in December 2000, following up on a number of wreck stories in the area, including on that sounded like a four-engine B-24 bomber. As a result of that visit, Deboin villagers produced the full details of a US dog tag belonging to 'Robert E Frank', a description of the wreck, and its location to Douglas in February 2001. He reported this discovery during the
CILHI PNG MIA Conference, which he attended in April 2001. Also, he informed
aerothentic.com and
pacificwreck.com, which reported the discovery online.
Also see the New Guinea War Museum of the National Museum of New Guinea Ahuia Street, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
In 2000, three Papua New Guineans were hunting in the forest when they
came across aircraft wreckage near Iwaia village. The
DOD’s Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) was notified and, in 2002, a
JPAC team traveled to Deboin Village to interview the New Guineans, who said they knew the location of the crash site. However, they weren’t able to relocate the wreckage.
The
site was rediscovered in 2004 a
few miles from Iwaia Village, (see
Google links for Iwaia, Papua New Guinea) and a
JPAC team discovered an aircraft data plate similar to that used on a
B-24D Liberator. Between 2004 and 2007,
JPAC teams
conducted two excavations of the site and recovered human remains and non-biological material including some crew-related artifacts such as GI dog tags, the Defense Department said.
The
full 11-man aircrew listing is:
1. Pilot Captain Robert L Coleman, O-789137 (Wilmington, DE)
2. Co-Pilot 2nd Lt Kenneth L Cassidy, O-802017(Worcester, MA)
3. Bombardier 2nd Lt Irving Schechner, O-673737 (Brooklyn, N.Y)
4. Navigator 1st Lt George E. Wallinder, O-662400 (San Antonio, TX)
5. Engineer T/Sgt Paul Miecias, 32302997 (Piscataway, NJ)
6. Gunner S/Sgt Albert J Caruso, 32464441 (Kearny, NJ)
7. Gunner T/Sgt William L Fraser, 17035405 (Maplewood, MO)
8. Gunner S/Sgt Robert E Frank, 32303093 (Plainfield, NJ)
9. Gunner T/Sgt Robert C Morgan, 16039363 (Flint, MI)
10. Gunner Pvt Joseph Thompson, 19039138 (Compton, CA)
11. Observer 2nd Lt Roland F Ward, O-736737 (Cambridge, MA)