In the early hours of August 7th 1945, 8 days before the end of the war in the Pacific, a U.S. Army Air Corps B-24 'Liberator' bomber with eleven crew members on board, flew to destruction into the 3,000 foot peak of Mangwoon-san on Namhae Island in Southern Korea. All eleven airmen perished.
Left to right (back row): Steve Wales, Nose gun; Ed Mills Jr., Pilot; Nick Simonich, Co-pilot; Joe Orenbuch, Navigator; Ron Johnson, Bombardier; Walter Hoover, Gun;
And (front row): Jim Murray, Engineer; Henry Ruppert, Radar operator; Warren Tittsworth, Top gun; John Regnault, Radio operator; Tom Burnworth, Tail gun. (See a larger version of the photo)
The aircraft was a B-24M "Snooper" (aircraft no. 44-42131) of the 868th Bombardment Squadron (H), which flew out of Okinawa, piloted by Lt. Edward Mills Jr. of Carbondale, Pennsylvania. The aircraft that these men flew was a specially-equipped B-24 long-range bomber that used radar to aim its bombs at rather low altitudes (around 1,000-2,000 feet).
These black-painted B-24s, nicknamed 'Snoopers', seemed to be especially tasked with attacking enemy shipping at night, hence the use of radar in bombing. The status of these kinds of planes and their missions were somewhat of a secret at the time.
Lt. Mills and his crew took off from Okinawa at 10:06pm on August 6th (the day of the atomic-bombing of Hiroshima) on an armored search for Japanese shipping off the southern coast of the Korean penninsula. They were accompanied that night by another "Snooper" (a/c #780) commanded by Lt. Robert Ellingson. The two planes flew to Hwa-do (a small island just north of Cheju Island, Korea), from where they began their search. Their designated path was to go East along the coast to Pusan and then return to base. The crews decided with the flip of a coin that Lt. Mills' plane would search the coast, while Lt. Ellingson's plane would fly a parallel path 50 miles further out over the ocean to the south. While Ellingson's crew successfully attacked a 200-foot vessel near Pusan and returned to Okinawa at 8:54am, Lt. Mills' crew failed to return, instead, crashing into the mountain on Namhae Island. (See map below)
See more detailed maps.
The last contact with the ill-fated B-24 was made by VHF radio by Lt. Ellingson's plane at 1:50am on August 7th. Searches were conducted for the next few days (including one by Ellingson's crew on the morning of the 8th), with no sightings. The search for the lost plane was called off on September 9th, and the crew were officially listed as MIA.
