P-40E 40-401
 

This aircraft has recently been registered on the US Register as N95665

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNumSQL.asp?NNumbertxt=95665

During here service life this was involved in at least two incidents according to www.aviationarchaeology.com

411020 P-40E 40-401 79PS 20PG Hamilton Field, CA CBLoG 3 Smith, Herbert E, Jr USA NC Cunningham Field, NC -- One of 4 aircraft, that either forcelanded (3) or crashed (1) killing William Houston

420703 P-40E 40-401 Fort Randall, AK 5 Bernston, James A. USA AK Fort Randall, AK

However, Joe Baugher has

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/1940.html

41-401 crashed and burned after takeoff Jun 3, 1942, Fort Randal, AK

I think this could be confused with another P-40E incident at Cold Bay (which is the same as Fort Randall) this date.

420603 P-40E 41-5717 Cold Bay, AK 5 Dickinson, Robert K USA AK Cold Bay, AK

AccidentReport.com has a another different date for the Alaska incident

40-401 P-40E 420727 ALASKA
40-401 P-40E 411020 NORTH CAROLINA

So firstly, can anyone confirm the date that P-40E 4-401 crashed in Alaska (I Aassume with 11th Fighter Sqn)

And secondly confirm that the pilot listed for this incident Bernston, James A. is ACTUALLY

BERNTSON JOHN A
2LT 0-724679 22-Sep-42 HN
Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces
Service # 0-724679
18th Fighter Squadron, 343rd Fighter Group
Entered the Service from: Utah
Died: 22-Sep-42
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial
Honolulu, Hawaii
Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart

Note: He is with 18th Fighter Sqn (so there is the 343rd Fighter Group link to 11th Fighter Sqn)

And finally, confirm to me now BERNTSON JOHN A came to lose his life on 22 September 1942 - I can't find a P-40 loss on this date

Many Thanks

Paul

Re: P-40E 40-401
 

Paul,

There's a hit on footnote.com when you enter John A Berntson. A half page report seems to give details about his loss, but since I'm not a member, I can't read the fine print.

On 22 Sep 1942 15 P-39 and 20 P-40 fighters escorted a dozen B-17 and B-24 on a bombing raid to Adak Island, but mission was aborted due to weather. Perhaps Berntson went missing on this flight?

Regards,

Leendert