Date:	Wednesday 29 December 1943
Time:
Type:	North American P-51A Mustang
Owner/operator:	76th FSqn /23rd FGp USAAF
Registration:	43-6289
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Suichwan airfield, 2 miles SWW of Yutianzhen, Jiangxi Province -   China
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Suichwan airfield
Destination airport:

Narrative:
On 29 December 1943, four P-51 of 76th FS, 23rd FG were sent on an escort mission from the advanced base of Suichwan, China. A line of planes was parked along the runway as they took off, and if the first pair of Mustangs took off without any problem, the wingman of the second pair, 1st Lt Bruce Gene Boylan, lost control and crashed into the line of parked planes. Boylan’s fighter, full of fuel for the mission, burst into flames. There was no fire-fighting equipment available at Suichuan, and the best that could be done was to push nearby planes away so the flames would not spread to them. The flight surgeon concluded later that the pilot had been killed on impact and did not suffer in the flames. In all the 76th FS lost in this accident one killed, one P-51A (43-6289, Boylan’s fighter) and two P-40s (P-40K 42-46018 and P-40N 42-105257) destroyed and two more P-40s (P-40N 42-104939 and 42-105905) damaged. The subsequent escort mission was uneventful.

"Sharks over China. The 23rd Fighter Group in World War II", by Carl Molesworth. ISBN 0-7858-1401-9, pages 180-181
https://www.aviationarchaeology.com/listPages/airforce/asp/AF_Monthly_1943Dec_O.asp
MACR 16389 (https://www.fold3.com/image/38617810)
Headstone application for Bruce G Boylan (https://www.fold3.com/image/318192044)
https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/131405277/bruce-gene-boylan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suichwan_Airfield
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=26.365833&lon=114.571667&z=15&m=w

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
11-Nov-2022 19:32	Laurent Rizzotti	Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Source, Narrative]
12-Nov-2022 13:22	Laurent Rizzotti	Updated [Operator]