b-24 loss off Singapore

[James A Pratt III]

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

[Laurent Rizzotti]

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 ?

[Alex Smart]

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

[kaki3152]

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

[kaki3152]

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

[RSwank]

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

[Larry deZeng]

Bass was lost while patrolling the Makassar Straits. That seems a long way from Singapore.

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

[RSwank]

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

[NUPPOL]

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

[RSwank]

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.