[Laurent Rizzotti]

Adriano, a MACR would have been written even if there was no witness. Some MACR in the Pacific have nothing else than the crew list and the take off hour.

Regarding 9th Air Force, a good part of the activity was close to the frontline and so a pilot could be KIA and fall on friendly territory, or close enough to be found some days later. In these cases there will be no MACR, as the pilot will not be missing, but will be declared KIA.

For the above 324th FG cases, in the case of Lt Pines a MACR should have been written. So either it was poor paperwork by 324th FG, or the MACR was written but was then lost/discarded once the fate of the pilot was known some months later.

According to the Osprey book "P-47 Thunderbolt Units of the Twelfth Air Force", 1st Lt Nicholas Plishka was last seen before his formation was bounced by 12 Bf 109s in Bar-le-Duc area, France. The squadron evening report confirmed that he was killed when his P-47 crashed for unknown cause 4 km south of Bar-le-Duc. So in this case there should be no MACR, as the fate of the pilot was known the day of the loss. But on the other hand, the text says the squadron was bombing rail targets near Bar-le-Duc... that has been liberated on 31 August 1944, so it possible it was another place called Bar... Or the text confused the crash place of Plishka with the place of the bombing and air battle.

I have no details for the other two pilots.