ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 193029
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| Date: | Monday 22 January 1945 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Republic P-47D Thunderbolt |
| Owner/operator: | 69th FSqn /58th FGp USAAF |
| Registration: | 42-25420 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Aircraft missing |
| Location: | Mindoro Stait, about three to three and a half miles west to west sout -
 Philippines
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | |
Late in the afternoon of 22 January 1945 the 69th FS, 58th FG, USAAF sent out a four ship patrol to cover the C-47 transports to Lingayen. The flight did not land at Lingayen until 1755. Two of the pilots elected to remain at Lingayen overnight. Even though it was already 1825, the second flight elected to take off for Mindoro for a night flight back to base. 1st Lt. Milton J. Nagel was leading, with 2nd Lt. Donald F. Fish on his wing. The mission to Lingayen was uneventful on both flights. When they returned to base, San Jose was under a “red alert.” The P-61 “Black Widow” night fighters were being “scrambled” and Army anti-aircraft units began firing at an unidentified target in the area. At approximately 2100 hours Nagel and Fish reported in, called Elmore tower, and requested landing instructions. They were told to circle the area, as an unidentified aircraft was reported approaching San Jose. The two 69th pilots turned off their navigation lights and flew out over the bay. Nagel spoke to Fish on the radio and asked how much gas Fish had remaining. Fish replied he had “200 gallons.” Lt. Fish was not heard from after that transmission. The last time his plane, P-47D-21 42-25420, was seen by Nagel was when they snapped off their lights and headed out to sea. Mindoro radar stations later reported having tracked an unidentified aircraft to zero degrees altitude about three to three and a half miles west to west south west of the mouth of Bugaganda River, Mindoro.
It was speculated that Lt. Fish may have been hit by friendly anti-aircraft fire. A remote possibility is that there was actually an enemy aircraft involved, although Mindoro had not been subjected to bombing after the Ninth of January. Lt. Fish was a new pilot and had been assigned to the 69th for less than a month. This had been only his third combat mission and he had accumulated only twenty-six hours of flying time with the 69th.
The P-47D-21 42-25420 was the personal aircraft of Major Milton Self, the squadron commander, and was nicknamed “Miss Claire.”
Sources:
"No glamour--no glory: the story of the 58th Fighter Group of World War II", by Anthony J. Kupferer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindoro_Strait
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=fr&lat=12.464067&lon=121.120148&z=10&m=w
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 23-Jan-2017 20:38 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
| 13-Feb-2020 19:21 | Iwosh | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 30-Jan-2021 15:33 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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