ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 193041
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| Date: | Tuesday 23 January 1945 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Vought FG-1 Corsair (Goodyear built) |
| Owner/operator: | VMF-223 USMC |
| Registration: | 14152 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Camotes Sea, off Mactan Island -
 Philippines
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
It is not allowed to copy text directly from other sources. Summarize the information using your own words.After more than three weeks of preparation, the transfer of VMF-223 to the Philippines began in January 1945. The flight echelon took off on 8 January for Samar in the Phillipines Islands and after brief stops at Emilau, Hollandia, Owi, and Peleliu, the planes landed at Guiuan Strip, Samar. The remainder of the squadron made the trip by surface vessel arriving on 12 January 1945.
Living and operating conditions at Guiuan airstrip were poor even by Western Pacific standards. The runway was still being constructed and there was inadequate space provided for the proper dispersal of aircraft. Five planes were damaged while taking off and landing, due partly to the limited runway available and partly to pilot error. In spite of the miserable operating conditions, VMF-223 flew combat sweeps over southern Luzon, Lingayan, Cebu, Mindanao, Negros, and other islands in the Philippines.
Second Lieutenant Kenneth G. Pomasl was reported missing in action on 23 January 1945. This day, Captain Koetsch led a formation of 8 Crosairs in a five and a half hour patrol over a convoy moving into the Lingayen area from western Panay. Returning from the flight, the pilots ran into a severe front, and Pomasl, flying FG-1A, Bureau Number 14152, became separated from his division leader. Last seen flying direcly into the front, he failed to return to base. His last known position was approximately 75 miles SW of Leyte, but as the weather closed in, and no communication was received from him by any of the VHF/DF stations, it was impossible to determine where his subsequent flight placed him. He was officially listed as Missing in Action.
Late in the afternoon of the 29th, he returned to the base by way of Baybay, Burauen, and Tacloban. The following is an account of his adventure:
"On the day he became lost from his flight of four aircraft, he flew around until he was low on gas. Letting down through the overcast, he found himself over land, which later turned out to be Mactan Island off Cebu. He made a power landing in the water, one-half mile from land, and got out of the plane. After inflating his rubber boat, he climbed in and secured his backpack and shoes, which he had removed in the water, to the raft. Almost immediately, three native canoes came out to him, and Lieutenant Pomasl was transferred to one of the canoes while his rubber raft was placed on another. The Japs from Mactan Island started shooting at the party and everyone went into the water. Lieutenant Pomasl did not see his native friends after this. His raft which had fallen into the water, drifted onto the shore, and soon a Japanese soldier paddled out in it. When he came to within two hundred feet of Pomasl, he began to aim a rifle, but the pilot fired first with his .45. After exchanging several more shots the Jap paddled back to shore and was seen no more.
Lieutenant Pomasl waited until after dark before swimming into shore. When he landed on the shore, he had been in the water for more than seven hours. He went into the Jungle which came down almost to the water’s edge, and finding a place to his liking remained there all that night and the next day and the following night. He had a canteen full of water but no food, and he was plagued with mosquitoes. At noon of the second day after his landing, the 25th of January, he set out walking northward for a while, but the coral hurt his feet (he had lost his shoes with the raft) and he reversed his direction, moving south and west. After about three-fourths of a mile, he broke into a clearing around which huts were built. Soon after he was discovered by the Filipinos who took him into the Jungle again, and build a couch on which he could lie. They brought him food (eggs, boiled chicken) and he was able to make himself understood by one of the natives who spoke a little English. That night, he was transferred to a smaller island, Santa Rosa, where he was hospitably treated. A native nurse washed his flying suit and dressed the coral cuts on his feet. On the 27th he was taken to Tungu Island, and early that day the Filipinos took him in a sailboat to Baybay, then to where he was able to contact American Army Forces. He went from there to Burauen where he spent the night and the following day he returned."
Sources:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160522211448/http://www.mag14.marines.mil:80/MAG14Units/VMA223/About.aspx
https://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003140-01/sec5.htm
VMF-223 War Diary, January 1945 (http://www.fold3.com/image/295259182/)
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/USN/LLJan45.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mactan
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 23-Jan-2017 22:02 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
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