Brian,
I concur that the 18 March date is likely incorrect. It is also unclear who the author was for this USNA, Annapolis, MD bio for Gaylord A. Buchanan, Jr.
This account was found on ancestry.com It was noted as being published in 2000, so 6 years or so after Buchanan had passed. Perhaps I should not have added this content to this thread but it seemed to hold other pertinent content.
The NARA capture date of 24 Feb 1942 for Horrigan seems suspicious also, perhaps this was the date contact was lost with Java and Horrigan was presumed MIA/POW with the rapid invasion of Jap forces at Java.
https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-...g=1&rid=132436
The later date of 6 March seems more in line, offered in Rolland's post 7 with this account:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/theo...ava-t1615.html
"MAJ Horrigan with CIV Gaylord Buchanan, my Father - FLT LT Val Morehouse RAAF, FLT LT Frank Wright RAAF, and 7 USAAC NCOs repaired a Bolo B-18 bomber (rigged as a transport) at Bandoeng on 6 Mar and tried to fly to Australia. They were seduced by the planet Venus having passed Surabaya, thinking it was a Japanese night fighter searchlight, tried to evade and ran out of fuel and landed on a beach near Semarang, were captured by two Dutch KNIL officers and turned over to the Japanese. It took my father 6 months to join the rest of 1 Sqn RAAF in bicycle camp, with no record of where he was. Does the LB docs have any mention of a RAAF FLT LT who may have been the guest of the Kempai Tai because he was the RAAF Operations Officer for the 1 and 8 Sqns for the retreat from Kota Baru?"
For me this is still not conclusive. Were they still repairing the B-18 on 6 march and tried to fly it out on a later date, or was this the date of departure with crash and capture a day or days later.
Perhaps more detail of this Flight/Crash/Capture event will yet be discovered.