USN
VF-17
Pilot Lt (jg) John H. Keith, O-145236 (MIA / KIA) KA
MIA November 1, 1943 at 6:10pm
Aircraft History
Built by Vought.
Mission History
One of eight Corsairs of 'Flight 2' took off from Ondonga Airfield on a morning sortie at 8:45 to patrol over Empress Augusta Bay at 28,000'. Led by Halford, the patrol encounters heavy cloud cover over patrol area. Bogies spotted at 1045, but contact lost before they could be engaged. On route home, they strafe Ballale Airfield.
Later that afternoon, 'Flight 2' again took off from Ondonga at 15:45 for another two hour patrol over Empress Augusta Bay, but failed to spot any enemy aircraft. On the return flight, they again strafes Ballale Airfield on route home. Ballale responds with intense anti-aircraft fire.
This fighter is hit and begins to smoke heavily, then ditches five miles SE of the island at 1810, and is observed to swim clear of the fighter. His wingman Ens Country Landreth (Landrew?) circles Keith until after sunset, when he loses sight of him in the darkness. Keith is not observed to deploy his life raft. A PT boat and a PBY search for Keith through the night and into the next day, with no success.
The Jolly Rogers, page 111 Blackburn recalled:
"[November 2, 1943] I learned that the meticulous, thorough search for Johnny Keith had produced no results. I wanted to hold out hope - downed pilots were known to turn up weeks and even months after going in - but I knew that it was not fair to withhold the news from Johnny's family. That afternoon, I wrote the first of all too many heart-wrenching next-of-kin letters from the forward area."
Memorials
Keith was officially declared dead on January 11, 1946. Memorialized on the 'tablets of the missing' at Manila American Cemetery.
References
The Jolly Rogers pages 108-109, 111
US Navy Loss Microfilm lists loss location as Poporang Island
F4U
MIA
