PBY lost end December 1943
 

Hello,

I am searching details on the PBY in which the man below was lost:

Kent Norman Ashcraft was also a lieutenant in the Navy and also died in a non-combat related airplane accident. A PBY pilot and squadron commander, he was lost in a routine flight between Baker Island and Canton Island in the Pacific on Dec. 27, 1943. He was the only one of the three who married, leaving behind a three-year old daughter named Leola. His major at OSC was education.
http://www.osualum.com/s/359/index.a...gid=1&pgid=425

Actually I found two other dates for the loss and two serials:

According to http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/USN/LLDec43.htm, Lt Ashcraft was the pilot of the PBY-5A Buno 33968 of Hedron-2 that went missing between Makin and Baker Island on 28 Dec 1943.

According to http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/thirdseries4.html, the PBY-5A Buno 33968 survived the war, but the Buno 33963 went missing on 30 December 1943 during flight from Baker Island to Makin Island, South Pacific. Six people were MIA.

So if anybody had more details and can solve this mess, thanks in advance

Best regards

Laurent