USAAF
5th AF
43rd BG
64th BS
Pilot Captain Joseph W. Geddes (KIA) Logan, Utah
Crew 2nd Lt. Leon S. King (KIA)
Crew 1st Lt. Leslie W. Neuman (POW / KIA November 25, 1943)
Crew 2nd Lt. Saul Albert (KIA)
Navigator 2nd Lt. William A. Bujold (KIA) Rumford, Maine
Engineer S/Sgt William R. Moore (KIA) Flagtown, NJ
Crew T/Sgt Emil Gentry (KIA)
Crew S/Sgt Ernest W. Burnside (POW / KIA November 25, 1943)
Crew Cpl. John J. Mulligan (POW / KIA November 25, 1943)
Crew Pte. John L. Honold
Crew Robert E. George (POW / KIA November 25, 1943)
Shot Down May 21, 1943
MACR 2459
Mission History
Took off from 7-Mile Drome near Port Moresby in the afternoon of May 20, 1943 to stage from Dobodura. Armed with a mix of 300 pound bombs and 20 pound fragementation bomb clusters for a night mission. Took off from Dobodura at 1:00am on the 21st. One of five B-17s whose mission was to bomb Vunakanau Airfield and Rapopo Airfield, then return to Port Moresby.
At 4:20am, it bombed the Kokopo (Rapopo) area and was intercepted and shot down by a J1N1 Irving flown by Shigetoshi Kudo. Shot down over Put Put Plantation, this was the second victory of a night fighter victory using oblique cannons. Earlier that night, Kudo shot down B-17E 41-9244. He returned to Lakunai Airfield at 5:35am, having expended 178 rounds.
Gordon Manuel would later report:
"Shortly after I was shot down [on May 21, 1943 flying B-17E "Honi Kuu Okole" 41-9244] another B-17 was shot down near Put Put plantation 5 or 6 miles inland. I was told by natives that two [men] were burned in the ship, one came to Put Put to get aid for a crew member who had both legs broken and the former was taken prisoner and the latter shot by the Japanese. All the rest escaped from the ship I believe by parachute."
Fates of the Crew
Five crew bailed out. One made it to the Putput area seeking help, but was captured and shot. Four of the crew bailed out and were captured by the Japanese Navy: Neuman, Burnside, Mulligan and George were captured and sent to Japanese Navy POW camp at Rabaul. All four along with Sgt Robert Curry (gunner from B-17E "Honi Kuu Okole" 41-9244) and seven other POWS were executed on November 25, 1943.
Wreckage
Wreckage crashed inland from Putput. Two of the crew died in the plane crash wreckage.
This crash site was visited by US Army CILHI in 1986 or 1987, and remains recovered.
Brian Bennett adds:
"This site was reported by a villager up in the Warangoi to me back in the mid 1980's. He went back to the site at my request and came out with a bit of metal that I ID'd as being off a B-17, a piece of the internal wing frame actualy. He also saw a number 19 but as there were several aircraft with 19 in the serial number in it i wasn't certain who this could be. I went in with the first team to help with the IE but later when the main recovery effort went in the site had been prepped with a helipad and I recall that Bruce Hoy went with them as he later wrote a fairly detailed report on the diggings. I took a few pics but the forest canopy was dense and dark where the bird went in and my pics aren't so good and only a few anyway."
Relatives
Steve Burke adds:
"My wife’s uncle’s remains, SSgt William R. Moore, was buried at at Jefferson Barracks Cemetery, St. Louis, MO. I am interested to see whether you may have any photos of the crash site available for viewing. Thank you for your research it has lent valuable information to our family about what happened to him during his last mission.
This past summer I went to visit my mother in law and we brought Billy’s duffel bag out of the attic and opened it for the first time since her mother added things from his boyhood after the war. I can tell you that it was an incredible time capsule of personal effects. There was a lot of correspondence to his parents. We found a telegram from him to his mother the morning before his last flight. We know because it was the same date as he was killed. He told her not to worry. It was very heartbreaking to read. We also found all of the technical manuals for the B-17 and several pictures of girl friends. There was boy scout literature and his scout knife. I am a history buff and have researched my wife’s family for her. She is related to John Honeyman, first spy for General Washington; mother’s side and she is related to Edmund Nathan Atkinson, Col. 13th Ga. Infantry; civil war on her fathers side. Her family has a deep history of military service with her father being a retired Navy Rear Admiral. So I am very pleased by being able to add this information to what the family already knows. Thanks again."
References
B-17 At Black Cat Pass by Steve Birdsall mentions this bomber. Moonlight Interceptor mentions this loss in its prologue.
Seven Airmen who died in 1943 are reinterred at Jefferson Barracks
Thanks to Edward Rogers for additional information.
B-17
POW
Seven Airmen who died in 1943 reinterred at Jefferson Barracks
