Typhoon Ursula - September 1945 - POW ferrying

[Leendert]

Next to hostilities, accidents etc., nature also claimed lots of lives and airframe losses during WW 2. Examples are the next to complete wipe-out of B-25 equipped 340th BG due to an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius volcano (March 1944) and VMF-422 when its Corsairs ran into a Pacific storm (Jan 1944).

My question involves Typhoon Ursula, roughly between Formosa and the Philippines on 10 September 1945. Online resources speak of 6 a/c lost with some 120 men lost/missing, crews and returning POWs alike.

So far I could identify three certain losses that can be related to Typhoon Ursula: B-24s 44-40666 and 44-42052 (494th BG) and 44-40491 (11th BG).
These a/c transported 20 freed POWs each from Okinawa to Luzon.

A probable loss, but in opposite direction (to pick up POWs?), was B-24M 44-50459 of 380th BG on 9 Sept 1945. with just the crew of five.
The four mentioned a/c are covered in MACRs.

I wonder who can shed some more light where the number of 6 a/c is based on? USN transport planes to make up the number?

All info welcome, thanks.

Leendert

[Buckeye30]

Hi Leendert. C-54s from ATC were ferrying too, averaging about 1600 POWs a day (McArthur's Report on the occupation); the only C-54 I found for the 10th. crashed in India. Flights were Atsugi-Okinawa-Manila (Nielson Field).
44-42052 crashed into Sancha Mountain Formosa with Dutch Army/Navy and Australian Army POWs; 44-40666 came down in sea.
(Mystery no.3).


Regards
Nick

[Laurent Rizzotti]

A quick search of US Navy war diaries on fold3 returned no loss on 10 september.

Some details on 44-42052 with the list of crew and passengers (easier to read than the MACR) and the additional point that the search party organized to find this aircraft was hit by another typhoon and 25 of its members were killed: https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/3.../james-r-wyatt

[Leendert]

Thanks for input. Remaining a/c to get to a number of 6 lost and moreover, 120 lives lost open for a further search, if of course those numbers are correct....

Leendert

[Laurent Rizzotti]

I had another idea, checking the US Navy and USMC casualty lists available at https://www.naval-history.net/WW2USCas.htm (actually I have compiled them into files to be able to search the whole list) and searched death date of 10 September 1945. While the list is not complete (some names are missing, and a good part of the names have no death date, especially the accidental ones), it can still be useful.

On the USN side, found no transport aircrew missing, just 4 people lost in Philippines in a MIA Avenger (see https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/5...harles-holsten for details).

On the USMC side, no air casualty for this date.

The usual way for USN and USMC MIA is to be declared dead one year and one day after they went missing, so missing USN and USMC men lost on 10 September 1945 will be listed on 11 September 1946 by ABMC. This is the case of the four men lost with the Avenger listed above, and there is only one more man listed for this date, so my guess is that no USN/USMC transport crew was lost that day.

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Still not finding a trace in US, British or Dutch records of more men lost that day than the ones listed in the MACR for the 3 known aircraft.

I notice that the MACR for 44-40666 (the one aircraft for which there were survivors) has on page 3 a witness statement by another pilot of 494th BG that saw the crash and guided to its location a "British cruiser" (to be identified) that rescued the crew and 8 passengers (12 passengers were lost). So it is possible that the flight of 6 aircraft went into the typhoon but at least one aircraft, and probably more, survived it.

There is a book on 495th BG available online (https://www.facebook.com/groups/494t...71234153122845). Pages 281-285 that day is described in details, if I am not confused, at least three 494th BG pilots are listed as belonging to the flight and did not crash. 494th BG lost only two aircraft (one with 25 MIA and one with 12 MIA) and with the loss of 11th BG and the three identified surviving planes of 494th BG, we have the six aircraft cited by sources, but only half of them were lost, one of them with survivors, so the death toll was 62 and not 120. Still it hurts to see men dying just after the end of the war, especially the ex-POWs that had survived years in Japanese POW camps.

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Actually page 286 is written that another 494th BG pilot participated to this flight, but has nothing to add to what the other said. So the 6 ac flight was all 494th BG, with two losses, and the 11th BG was lost the same day but probably not in this formation.