ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 192687
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| Date: | Tuesday 9 January 1945 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  North American B-25J Mitchell |
| Owner/operator: | 500th BSqn /345th BGp USAAF |
| Registration: | 43-36187 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Angeles, Luzon -
 Philippines
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
In the morning of 9 January 1945 24 B-25s of 345th BG (six per squadron) took off from Taclobn beginning at 0430 hrs. They proceeded to Talang Island for Group rendezvous before continuing to Camaling, Luzon. Their orders were to circle just south of this location between 0800 and 0845 hrs and listen for orders from Halifax, air control at Lingayen Gulf. If no orders were issued in this time period, the groyp was to attacked assigned sectors of the Luzon railroad system and to bomb and strafe rolling stock. The bombers circled as planned and as no order was received attacked the secondary target, claiming four locomotives, six flat cars, three gondola cars, 58 boxcars and one coach destroyed, and two locomotives, 12 boxcoars and one coach damaged.
The 500th BS, reduced to five bombers afer the 6th failed to contact the group at the rendezvous and returned to base, left Camling at 0845 hrs and strated their minimum altitude bombing and strafing run on the Manila railway between Paniqui and Malolos. The B-25J-11 43-36187 "Man-O-War" turned back northward from the target run in the vicinity of Tarlac and did not return. The four other reported having expended 48 100lb parademo bombs and 8,700 .50 calibre bullets and claimed to have destroyed 18 boxcars, 4 flatcars and one SSF on Bamban airfield, to have severed railroad tracks at Santa Cruz and hit the terminal building at Tarlac.
The missing B-25 burst into flames after being hit in the cockpit by explosive AA. The pilot, Lt Buffington quickly crash landed near Angeles city but burned to death in the plane with two other crew (Buchanan and Hertz). Radio operator Nelson pulled two other men (Thompson and Dunnavant) out and went to seek help. They were killed while he was gone. Rescued by Filipinos, Nelson returned to the Squadron on January 26.
Crew (MACR 16290):
2nd Lt James O. Buffington (pilot, of Peru, Ind) KIA
Capt Richard T. Thompson (copilot, of Boise, Idaho) KIA
2nd Lt Vernon C. Buchanan (navigator, of Indianapolis, Ind) KIA
T/Sgt Walter J. Nelson (radio) Evaded
Cpl Bernard R. Dunavant (engineer, from Victoria, Va) KIA
Cpl Joseph Hertz (gunner, from Brooklyn, WY) KIA
Although the guerillas who rescued T/Sgt Nelson buried three other crewmembers (the other two probably burned with the aircraft) all five remain officially MIA.
Sources:
http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=329568
http://www.345thbombgroup.org/pdf/mission-reports/500th/500thBS-Aug44-Aug45.pdf
http://ftp.calweb.com/users/w/warbird/honorrol.txt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angeles,_Philippines
http://www.maplandia.com/philippines/region-3/pampanga/angeles/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 09-Jan-2017 13:52 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
| 22-Mar-2020 19:08 | DG333 | Updated [Operator, Source, Operator] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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