b-24 loss off Singapore
 

According to the book "The Knights of Bushido" In mid July 1945 an American B-24 Bomber was shot down off Singapore by the IJN Destroyer Kamikaze and the Toshio maru while they were minesweeping. Seven of the crew were saved by these two ships. The prisoners were taken to the Seletar naval base where on 4 or 5 August 1945 they were beheaded by the 10th Special naval base Unit. Does anyone know the unit and number of the plane? I don't know if it was USAAF or USN. Uniform description pilot an officer wore overalls with wings sewn above the brest pocket the rest of the crew wore fatigues. Thanks in advance

Re: b-24 loss off Singapore
 

No obvious answer from the US or the USN loss lists available.

Could the Liberator KG911 of 203 Sqn RAF lost on 23 July 1945 off the north tip of Sumatra be your case ?

Re: b-24 loss off Singapore
 

Hello,
Crew of KG911 were :-
5 RAF including 1 Canadian serving with the RAF, and 4 RAAF.
All are listed in CWGC site as 23/07/1945.
But I would have thought that if some of her crew were captured this would have been recorded somewhere and as the possible date of said executions is 4/5 08/1945 then this would have been the date that CWGC site would have for them ??
Alex

Re: b-24 loss off Singapore
 

Here's a link to the War Crimes in Singapore after the war. According to this information, the airplane was a PB4Y USN Liberator. They also beheaded some B-29 crewmen later.

http://wcsc.berkeley.edu/wp-content/...s/Fukudome.htm

Re: b-24 loss off Singapore
 

Maybe PB4Y-1 Bu No 38913, lost June 16,1945, VPB-111, Lt. Louis Tulane Bass and crew?

Re: b-24 loss off Singapore
 

According to the VPB-111 war diary on fold3.com, Bass was lost while patrolling the Makassar Straits. That seems a long way from Singapore. The link to the War Crimes in Singapore mentions that 4 B-29 crewmen were killed earlier in the year. Those four were from the B-29 42-65226 which was lost during a raid on Singapore on January 11, 1945. They were captured and beheaded on February 10, 1945.
http://darkandbizaarestories.blogspo...9-crewmen.html

The crewmen:

Ellis, Samuel B., Jr (S/Sgt) - Left Gunner
http://www.abmc.gov/search-abmc-buri...0#.VPDoSNTN9wA

Osterdahl, Carrol N. (1st Lt) - Navigator
http://www.abmc.gov/search-abmc-buri...2#.VPDojdTN9wA

Heiss, Edward (1st Lt) - Bombardier
http://www.abmc.gov/search-abmc-buri...9#.VPDovdTN9wA

Yowell, Robert W. (1st Lt) - Radar Operator
http://www.abmc.gov/search-abmc-buri...7#.VPDo59TN9wA

Re: b-24 loss off Singapore
 

Indeed. 1,050 miles to the east. This probably should read: "Malacca Straits" or "Straits of Malacca".

Re: b-24 loss off Singapore
 

Attached is the page from the VPB-111 War Diary. Note the other patrols mentioned are around Borneo also. However, In the summary paragraph at the start of the month there is this statement.

"During the month, most patrol flights in the sectors along the East and West coasts of Borneo were extended to maximum distance and served as interdiction flights for Oboe-6 and Oboe-2 operations. During this period no enemy forces were encountered although dawn to dusk was rendered, including several special reconaissance flights into Singapore to check on Jap cruisers known to be there."

One June 1, there is a report of one of these Singapore flights where a plane flown by Lt Comdr H. F. Mears from VPB-106 is lost at Singapore. Two planes were sent on the mission, the 2nd plane circled the crash site "until certain there were no survivors". The 2nd plane was flown by a Lt Heyler and he mentions that during the 30 minute encounter he was under fire from aircraft (Oscars), cruisers, destroyers and picket boats. ( Looks like we need to check on VBP-106 also.)

Here is a description of the incident:
http://modelingmadness.com/others/fe...sagareport.htm

Re: b-24 loss off Singapore
 

VPB-106 home website
http://vpb106.com/index.html

Re: b-24 loss off Singapore
 

A little more info about the movements of the destroyer here:

http://www.combinedfleet.com/kamika_t.htm

Note that in the middle of July it was on a run up to Ha Tien (Indochina) and back.

Also note the incident on 12 June involving the Toho Maru and a "B-24" (or VPB) attack. This happened also in a run up to Indochina.

It seems if we can't narrow this "incident" down to an actual date or exact place, it might be hard to find a plane loss to match up. There were some VPB planes lost off Indochina in this time frame also.

Re: b-24 loss off Singapore
 

The section from the book mentioned in the first post, "The Knights of Bushido" that describes this incident can be read online here:

https://books.google.com/books?id=7P...201945&f=false

The narrative starts about in the middle of the page.

Re: b-24 loss off Singapore
 

This link (starting at the 2nd post by Juri_JS) has some actually photos of Mears plane during the mission to Singapore. The photos can also be found on fold3.com in the VPB-111 section (as the photos were taken from the VPB-111 plane). Note that Mear's plane was a single tail Privateer and Heylers plane was actually a "B-24" twin tail. Their route took them around the top of Singapore.

http://www.axis-and-allies-paintwork...topic.php?6884


From these and other photos on fold3.com you can pretty much track the flight by identifying the background. They flew over Malaysia and took photos such that they could see any ships located around Singapore Island. There are a couple of more photos on fold3.com which show the Privateer fairly close up and on fire, another just moments before it crashes as it flies over a ship at about 300 feet altitude. There is a final shot which shows some wreckage and ripples in the water, just an instant after the crash. Heyler's crew had the opinion that no one could have survived the crash as the plane went down very fast at the end, but Heyler did not "circle" or hang around to see what happened as he was under attack by Oscars. Also there was the Japanese ship very close to the crash site. So the mystery is, did the nearby ship actually pick up anyone or not?

I know this is an older post, but I can shed some light on the questions on VPB-106 Crew 3 being shot down over Singapore, 6/1/1945. My Great Uncle Beauran O’Kane was aboard as the tail gunner, PB4Y-2 BUNO# 59563 pilot HF Mears. My family has been researching this loss for 3 generations. With our research, we have found that all 12 were lost that day. In 2002, were provided first hand accounts, pictures, and military reports by Victor Walters who was aboard VPB-111 Crew 104, pilot Heyler. We currently have a Facebook page for this loss. We have recently have been able to recover the original pictures and after action reports of this flight. If interested https://www.facebook.com/VPB106Crew3/
https://youtu.be/PCmxVBWu_Io

Goodloe VPB-106 crew 2, went missing June 14th, 1945 near Singapore. But I do not know much about this loss. https://www.facebook.com/VPB106Crew3...743178/?type=3

I have the answers to this mystery if anyone is still interested.