My biological father, Keith Wentworth Pinto was a navigator on a B24J that was reported missing in the area of Mengtze, China on November 16, 1944. This was the crew's first formal mission after arriving in China the prior week. They were trained on the Norden LOB System (low altitude bombing system/very advanced and secret at that time). The plane was returning from a recon mission over the South China sea and last reported with no indication of trouble over friendly territory in the vicinity of Megntze, China and about 45 minutes out from landing in Chengkung. Throughout there lives, my grandparents, Winifred and Rene Pinto never believed the missing in action status. They always believed that the crew was taken out of China for some type of secret project in another part of the world. They contacted all the other crew member families and found that their sons' last letters home conveyed about the same message, "don't be concerned about a missing in action advisement from the War Department. We are involved in a very secret program and will be in for a while". My grandparents archival information indicates that before the crew left for China, the Co-pilot, the Bombardier and my father introduced my grandmother to a Bill Metro (who worked in butcher shop in Washington, DC). They told her not believe a missing in action report and to always trade at the butcher shop. So, after the missing in action report, this Bill Metro would meet informally with some of the crew members families to indicate that the "Angels" ( this was his term for the crew)were involved in a secret experiment and would be returning after the war. He also recommended that my grandparents read the Al Capp comic strip, LiL Abner. Apparently the LIL Abner comic strip was used from the mid 1940s into the mid 1950s to convey information to families of individuals involved in this secret experiment. My grandparents thought that the secret experiment might have had something to do with recon activites over Japan and then went on to overflying the Soviet Union. This Bill Metro was a real person and did work at the butcher shop. I have been unable to prove his "official Status" as a "go between". I have also not been able to prove the use of the LiL Abner Comic Strip as a vehicle for intelligence communications. My grandparents were very intelligent and well grounded individuals and I have a significant amount of archival data that they kept. This is a consolidated "short story". At times I can't believe the story, but at other times I just can't believe that my grandparents could make all the information up either. As you might expect, I have filed F.O.I.A.s with all government departments. All replies are the same, "no records resonpsive to your request were found. Who knows, perhaps someone reading this post will have a thought or other tidbit of information that might just prove interesting. The specific crew data is as follows:
14th Air Force, 308th Bomber Group, 375th Bomber Squadron
Plane serial number of the B24J was 44-41451
Crew members: Duane Beadle (Pilot), Charles Graper (Co-Pilot), Rudolph Lane (Gunner), Stanley Levine (Radar Observer), William Martin (Rada Operator), Francis Parker (Gunner), Keith Pinto (Navigator), Raymond Root (Engineer), Gicondo Rufini (Navigator), Kingdon Stergold (Bombardier), William Taylor (Gunner).
I have been able to locate the family of the Co-pilot and I am attempting to locate other crew member families, as well. If anyone has information in this regard, it would be very much appreciated. Please feel comfortable in contacting via the following information:
Thanks very much to all who would take the time read this "short story".
Robert M. Pasek
2610 Venetian Lane
Elgin, IL 60124
Home Phone: 847-742-1804
E-mail:
bbss7275@comcast.net