ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 199936
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| Date: | Saturday 28 November 1942 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Bell P-39K Airacobra |
| Owner/operator: | 68th FSqn /347th FGp USAAF |
| Registration: | 42-4371 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Tetembia reef, off New Caledonia -
 New Caledonia
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Tontouta airfield, New Caledonia |
On 28 November 1942, 22-year old 1st Lt Howard W Hulbert of 68th FS, 347th FG, took off from Tontouta airfield, New Caledonia, with the P-39K 42-4371, for a dive bombing training mission. As he was diving on the wreck of the steamer Saint-Antoine, beached in 1928 on Tetembia reef and used as a target by US pilots, his fighter started to spin. Hulbert was unable to recover and the Airacobra hit the sea at around 400 miles per hour. Search operations were unsuccessful and he was posted missing. On 23 September 1948, his remains were officialy declared unrecoverable and he was declared dead.
On 7 May 1994 a diver team participating to a film on the American precense in New Caledonia during the Pacific War for a local channel organised a dive on an aircraft wreck in shallow waters close to Tetembia reef, discovered four years before by fishers. The wreck, lying 200 m from the Saint-Antoine remains, was quickly identified as a P-39. But the French divers were very surprised to find human remains in the cockpit. Sadly no ID was found, but after collecting all bones and reburying them under sand, they alerted the local authorities, that communicated the news to US authorities.
Two months later a team of the Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii, arrived in New Caledonia and a new diving campaign, called Operation Airacobra, was started. It allowed to find in the cockpit a part of the jaw of the pilot, which proved decisive in identifying him as Lt Hulbert. On 13 July 1994, after a ceremony, the body of Howard Hulbert was flown to Hawaii. It was later buried in Arlington National Cemetery, USA, during a magnificent ceremony.
Sources:
1. http://liberation.3945.free.fr/page/reportage/mesreportages/LThoward.html
2. http://museemaritime.nc/joomla15/index.php/fr/les-ves-mainfmc-160/163-le-p39-de-tetembia
3. http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/dbmsn.asp?SN=42-4371&Submit6=Go
4. https://mapcarta.com/16621904
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 24-Sep-2017 20:45 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
| 14-Feb-2020 13:46 | Iwosh | Updated [Operator, Source, Operator] |
| 30-Jan-2021 10:27 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Location, Operator] |
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