Crew with B-17E Flying Fortress "Chief Seattle" 41-2656 of the 19th Bombardment Group, 435th Bombardment Squadron at 7 Mile Drome near Port Moresby.
What became of this plane? On August 14, 1942 at 6:02am took off from 7-Mile Drome near Port Moresby piloted by 1st Lt. Wilson L. Cook on a solo reconnaissance mission.
The flight plan was to follow the southern coast of New Guinea and at 6:17am over Round Point near Rigo turn to the northeast climbing to roughly 11,000' to cross the Owen Stanley Mountains. Then, the B-17 would fly over Buna at 8,000', then to proceed to Gasmata and Rabaul on New Britain. Finally, fly over Kavieng on New Ireland. Returning, this B-17 would search the Solomon Sea for any enemy shipping then return to Port Moresby.
After take off, nothing ever heard from this bomber and it was presumed lost sometime between 10:00am to 7:00pm near Gasmata. When this B-17 failed to return, entire crew was officially declared Missing In Action (MIA).
In fact, this B-17 was intercepted and claimed by A6M3 Model 32 Zeros from the Tainan Kokutai. That morning, the nine Zero took off from Lae Airfield on a flight bound for Buna to escort a convoy. The formation included: 1st shotai: Lt(jg) Joji Yamashita, FPO2c Ichirobei Yamazaki and FPO3c Hiroshi Okano. 2nd shotai: Lt(jg) Takeyoshi Ono, FPO1c Sadao Yamashita, FPO3c Masami Arai. 3rd shotai: WO Sahei Yamashita, FPO2c Enji Kakimoto, F1c Kihachi Ninomiya.
According to Japanese records, the Zeros intercepted a single B-17 at 7:35am over the Solomon Sea south of New Britain. The bomber's defensive fire severely damaged A6M3 Zero piloted by Lt(jg) Takeyoshi Ono. At 7:40, the three Zeros of the 1st shotai claimed the B-17 as shot down. Afterwards, the 2nd shotai escorted Lt(jg) Takeyoshi Ono's damaged Zero and all three land Buna Airfield.
As B-17E "Chief Seattle 41-2656 was the only B-17 lost that date and planned to fly over the same area at the same time, the Zero claim corresponds this bomber. Likely, this B-17 crashed into the open sea and it is unlikely any wreckage will ever be found.
Pacific Wrecks.