Identity of F-5 Lightning crashed on take off Vis Island -March/April 44

[NUPPOL]

memorial for Lt Kim
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...724216&df=all&

that is a Korean Surname....

[Alex Smart]

Hello,

http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/hwr...by.php&tid=83;

Alex

[Alex Smart]

Hello,

http://genealogytrails.com/hawaii/ww2honor1.html

Alex

[Alex Smart]

Hello,

http://www.wwiimemorial.com/registry...nt=1&tcount=53

Alex

[Alex Smart]

Hello,

http://media.nara.gov/media/images/29/21/29-2096a.gif

Alex

[researcher111]

Lt John Kim 1st FG 27 FSQ is listed as KIA on Aprl.13,44 at page 167 by 1st FG history book, however it remains unclear if this was an F-5

[Alex Smart]

Hello,

Interestingly, docs show no "KIA" or even "KIS" but "DOI" so died of injuries.

So 2Lt KIM was recovered from the wreckage alive but injured.

"AN ESCORT OF P-38'S" has Kim as "KIA 13th April 44" though,
and only that on the 13th the 1st escorted B-17's to Gyor, Hungary and they encountered some 40 enemy aircraft. Lt's Schweikert and Barlow each claimed a Me109.

Injuries received on the 13th from an aircraft crash or other cause from which he finally died ?
But if an aircraft, did it crash into the sea or on to Vis or one of the other nearby Island's ?
In any case it would have not been an accident so no accident report.
The aircraft was not lost so crew were not missing therefore no MACR.
The area was in Allied territory so no report as such, maybe a recovery Unit made a report at some later date ?

Alex

[researcher111]

Indeed on April 13,44 the target way Gyor second of and to my knowledge the 1st FG
didn't operate F-5's the recon version which operated by 5th PRG eventually few more
operated also by 82nd FG . I therefore believe that the P-38 in question was part of an
escort rather recon asset . If the report is true the flammed out engine may have
caused asymethric trust on take off thuse causing a VMCA leading to a take off stall
followed by crash possibly do to inability of the pilot to handle VMCA at low altitude.

[Alex Smart]

Hello,
To recap, in post 1 it is noted that the pilot died after the reported crash at a later date which was the 13th April 44.
So the crash was before the 13th ?
What losses were there in April prior to the 13th ?

These 1st FG losses are known and I offer them to eliminate them from any search.
March 1944
18th - MACR 3357 - P-38H - 42-67065 - Lindhurst -27th FS.
23rd - ----------- - P-38H - 42-67080 - McIntosh - 27th.
28th - MACR 3580 - P-38H - 42-67035 - Hartwig - 27thFS.
28th - MACR 3642 - P-38H - 42-67067 - Rodolff - 27thFS.
29th - MACR 3641 - P-38H - 42-67027 - Brown - 27thFS.
30th - ---------- - P-38H - 42-67058 - Pettus - 94th.

April 1944
3rd - ----------- - P-38J - 42-104215 - Larson - 71st.
6th - ----------- - P-38H - 42-67030 - Shepard - 71st.
6th - MACR 3700 - P-38H - 42-67070 - Valley - 71st.
13th - --------- - ------ - --------- - KIM - 27th.

Other Losses -
March
1st - ---------- - P-38 - 42-66729 - Cook.
2nd - ---------- - P-38 - 41-7591 - Classford.
4th - MACR 2730 - F-5C - 42-67239 - Shore.
4th - MACR 2731 - F-5C - 42-65734 - Mailey.
11th - ----------- - F-5c - 42-67241 - Begnaud.
14th - ----------- - P-38 - 43-2451 - Hames.
14th - ----------- - P-38 - 43-2478 - Wood.
17th - MACR 3213 - P-38 - 42-13234 - Liles.
17th - MACR 3214 - P-38 - 42-13244 - Blackman.
20th - MACR 3217 - F-5B - 42-67355 - Gordon.
27th - ----------- - F-5A - 42-13122 - Tunnell.
28th - MACR 3509 - P-38 - 42--67093 - Kenney.
29th - MACR 3511 - P-38 - 42-12892 - Noel.
29th - ----------- - P-38 - 42-12947 - Wells.
29th - MACR 3367 - P-38 - 42-68165 - Tucker.
30th - MACR 3692 - P-38 - 42-13452 - Townsend.

April
2nd - ---------- - P-38 - 42-104049 - Carroll.
5th - MACR 3704 - P-38 - 43-2180 - Lindstrom.
6th - MACR 3952 - P-38 - 42-13228 - Lord.
7th - MACR 3954 - P-38 - 42-104057 - Crow.
7th - MACR 3705 - P-38 - 42-104017 - Zimmerman.
7th - ---------- - P-38 - 41-7549 - Plotts.
12th - MACR 3963 - F-5A - 42-13318 - Gravitt.
13th - --------- - P-38G - 42-13030 - Joley.

Alex

[Leendert]

The AFHSO in DC sent me the following excerpt of the 27th FS diary:

12 April 1944 - 27th Fighter Squadron

"Penetration escort for B-24s was flown on the 12th by 10 P-38s led by 1/Lt
Francis Dawson, Mathews, Ala. to Bad Voslau aircraft assembly plant and
airdrome in Austria. Only five (5) enemy fighters were encountered, three (3)
of which were ME 109s with Hungarian Air Force markings. No claims, losses or
damage were reported. Excellent bomber formation and presence of high flying
P-47s over the target resulted in extensive damage to aircraft and
installations on the Bad Voslau airdrome. 2/Lt John J.C. Kim of Honolulu, HI
was forced to land on Vis Island landing strip for fuel enroute to base. In
attempting to take off again on the short strip, one engine failed and the
plane crashed from 200 feet about 3/4th of a mile from the end of the runway,
where a group of Yugoslav Partisans were walking. Eight (8) of the Partisans
were killed an twenty (20) injured. An R.A.F. Corporal was reported to have
pulled Lt. Kim from the burning plane, but he died on the14th as a result of
burns and other undetermined injuries. Lt. Kim was one of two pilots of
Chinese ancestry who joined the Squadron on 31 March 1944, and was considered
an unusually good pilot by his comrades. It was his second operational combat
mission."

Next to the definitive identification of Lt. Kim in this, the aircraft he was flying points to a P-38 after all.

Regards,

Leendert