Major William Horrigan USAAF Java PoW 1942

[25Kingman49]

Remarkable find, Rolland!

The Dutch surrendered Java to the Japs on 8 March 1942 https://www.history.com/this-day-in-...render-on-java according to this John Wright account “our” fight in question departed Bandung, Java, the day or night before; 6/7 March 1942. It appears the initial destination was Sumba, Island to refuel and pick up another P-40 downed USAAF pilot.

With the events after take-off from Bandung, Java the Island of Sumba, was no longer in range. Who knew the B-18 had landing gear locking pins which had to be manually removed before take-off to enable landing gear retraction once in the air. At any rate beyond not being able to retract the landing gear (severely reducing the planes range due to drag) this plane became “lost” or disoriented without navigational tools onboard on the southern coast of Java. Realizing this situation Major Horrigan cut across Java to the north coast hoping to refuel at Surabaya not yet captured by the Japs. Sadly once the north coast was reached Surabaya could not be found. The plane then crash-landed due to fuel starvation on a small sandy beach, not identified but likely west of Surabaya, Java.

The attached GEarth image with points of interest for this B-18 flight likely does not help much but hopefully offers some geographic reference aid. Such a sad story of lost hope as portrayed by John Wright, as they all were about to become Pacific POWs.