ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 98402
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| Date: | Monday 5 June 1944 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Boeing B-29 Superfortress |
| Owner/operator: | 444th BGp /678th BSqn USAAF |
| Registration: | 42-6361 |
| MSN: | 3496 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 11 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Yu-Chi, 60 miles of Kunming -
 China
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Karachi, Sindh Province, India |
| AAF Sta.13, Kunming, China |
B-29 42-6361: Delivered to USAAF on 19 February 1944. Assigned to the 444th BG, 678th BS, USAAF.
Written off when crashed due to fuel starvation at Yu-Chi, 60 miles from Kunming, China June 5, 1944. 62-6361 was one of Seventy-seven B-29's dispatched from the 58th BW in the Karachi area mount the first B-29 attack of the war against railroad shops at Bangkok between 10:52 and 12:32 hours UTC. Due to heavy undercast, 48 B-29's employed radar guidance to drop their bombs. Ten of the crew parachuted to safety, one was killed. According to rhe following published report (see link #5):
"...the casualty toll started to climb. “Aircraft number 42-6361 — 678th Squadron — 444th Group — calling Salua, calling Chittagong — low on gas — changing course over Bay of Bengal and heading for Kunming in South China...That’s all.”
That was all, indeed, for alerted American operators glued to their headquarters radio headphones. But it was not all for Major Booth G. Malone and his crew, struggling with two malfunctioning engines, hacking and chopping to jettison equipment from the slowly sinking aircraft, straining to squeeze power from the failing fuel supply. It was not all for the Chinese peasants near Yu-Chi who looked up from their rice paddies as they heard the four engines die one by one in the sky. They watched the B-29 plummet down to bury itself in the soft black soil, 60 miles from Kunming. Ten of the crew had parachuted to safely."
Sources:
1. http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/dbasn.asp?offset=25150 .
2. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_1.html
3. http://ww35.usafunithistory.com/PDF/10-19/10%20INTELLIGENCE%20SQ.pdf
4. https://user.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/56years/56years-4406.html
5. https://archive.org/stream/B-29Story-nsia/B-29Story_djvu.txt .
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 04-Jun-2017 21:14 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 04-Jun-2017 21:15 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 04-Jun-2017 21:16 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 23-Mar-2020 15:38 | DG333 | Updated [Operator, Location, Destination airport, Operator] |
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