USAAF
5th AF
475th FG
431st FS
December 1944
David Mason 2000
David Mason 2007
Pilot Major
Thomas Buchanan McGuire, Jr. (MIA/KIA)
Crashed January 7, 1945
Aircraft History
At one time, this aircraft was painted as "EILEEN-ANNE"
and possibly was repainted "KIM IV".
Wartime History
Ace McGuire took this aircraft on his final mission. For reasons unknown,
he did not fly his person aircraft, P-38J "Pudgy
V" 42-66817. On January 7, 1945 McGuire led
four Lightnings "Daddy Flight" taking off from Leyte at dawn on a sweep
over Negros, looking for kills. That
day, he was flying with Douglas S. Thropp, Jr, Rittmayer and Weaver.
The group orbited over Fabrica
Strip,
but did not see any Japanese planes there. Spottin g two Ki-43
Oscars (flown by Mizunori Fukuda and Sugimoto). McGuire made a controversial
decision to 'hold your tanks' (not drop drop tanks) anticipating further
combat. Another Japanese plane, Ki-84 joined the combat.
The outcome of the mission was McGurie and Rittayer were shot down. History will tell you that he turned too sharply whilst trying to get a deflection burst into an Ki-43 Oscar. His Lightning was assumed to have snap-rolled to the left and hit the ground inverted from about three hundred feet. The problem was, that whilst there was no doubt that those on the mission saw his twin-boom fighter crash, no-one actually witnessed how he had come to grief. The snap-roll theory was an assumption.
Recovery of Remains
McGuire's
remains was witnessed by Agapito Flores and Carlos Dorin. His remains
were collected by Filipinos and secretly buried to prevent the Japanese
from discovering them. Recovered in 1948, and returned to the United States for final burial a
year later with military honors.
His wife remarried in July 1946.
Recovery / Display of Artifacts
The
artifacts recovered at the crash site have been donated to the Clark
Air Base Museum as part of a display honoring Major McGuire.
References
The Search For The Crash Site
of Major Thomas B. McGuire, Jr. by David Mason. The book The
Last Great Ace also covers this action, and the artcile McGuire's
Last Mission by Caroll Anderson.
P-38
MIA
The Search for McGuire Crash Site
By David Mason
What Really Happened to McGuire?
