OS2U-3 BuNo 5810 - date of loss - Ens. Robert Long?

[Leendert]

AAIR, Joe Baugher et al have OS2U-3 Kingfisher BuNo 5810 lost on 5 August 1942 while serving in the Atlantic on the cruiser USS Cincinnati (CL-6) with pilot (and radioman?) Robert G. Long lost.

No such loss in the war diary of that cruiser. More so, (an) Ens. Robert G. Long was lost in a plane crash in Alaska on 5 July 1942, with his body found in late August 1942 'in the Aleutian Islands'.

Who has real fate of #5810 and what accident was Ens. Long (and crew?) really involved in?

Thanks for info.

Regards,
Leendert

[R Leonard]

I have ENS Robert Gene Long,USNR AV(N) from Boise, Idaho, killed in a non-combat crash of a VS-1D13 OS2U out of NAS Kodiak, 5 Jul 1942. NAS Kodiak report for that date shows Long to have been a passenger; the pilot was ENS Bernard B Brandel, USNR AV(N) from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The crash location was near Cape Chiniak. One body was recovered that day, but the report does not say which of these officers it was.

Details in Find-A-Grave for Brandel appear to be incorrect.

George – I don’t have service numbers for either of these men, do you?

[twocee]

I'm afraid I don't have the service numbers, Rich.

[R Leonard]

Thanks for checking, George. Guess I'll just leave them noted as "NSN" . . . 'course you never know what I might bumble across.

Rich