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RedditTwo fighters went after each other at midafternoon on February 9, 1942, with machine guns blazing. They were scant feet above the dense jungle enveloping the Mariveles volcano on the Philippines’ Bataan peninsula. Sergeant Toshisada Kurosawa, Imperial Japanese Army, was flying a Nakajima Ki-27 “Nate”; U.S. Army Air Forces Lieutenant Earl R. Stone was in a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk.
The two airplanes circled, popping in and out of a cloud layer blanketing the peak. Finally the Ki-27, having emerged from the mist, slipped behind the P-40, trailing white smoke. As both aircraft approached Cogon Tarac, a spiny ridge that juts from the volcano, red tracers arced toward the P-40. The airplanes disappeared into the murk.
Reports suggested the two aircraft may have collided in the clouds. When the American pilot failed to return to his base, a search party was sent up Cogon Tarac. The searchers found the wreckage of the Ki-27 and thought they could see what remained of the P-40, but could not reach it.
Over the decades, attempts to locate the P-40 crash site failed, much to the disappointment of the Stone family. Stone’s younger brother Westcott, himself a World War II combat veteran, had promised his late father that he would bring his brother home. In 2006, Wes Stone, having learned of my interest and experience in aircraft archaeology, enlisted my help.
After an airplane crashes, aircraft archeologists deal with the effects of compression, tension, shear, torque, and their combinations. Every piece of wreckage holds a clue to the airplane’s last moments. Our role is to find the fragments and put the story together.
Spike Nasmyth, an American prisoner of war in North Vietnam, and Australian photographer Kevin Hamdorf organized a search team at Subic Bay. On February 6, 2008, I joined them and our guides. Our group of 18 headed south in convoy and ascended the volcano.
After five tough hours, two Philippine Aeta guides and I were the first to top the ridge. We offloaded our gear. I put on gloves and a hydration system and followed lead guide Eric Flores over the side.
Descending the 45- to 50-degree slope, we had to keep a tight grip on sawgrass or shrub. Eighty feet below, the ground leveled out onto a narrow ledge amid a thicket of saplings. There was a radial engine, single-bank, nine-cylinder, the type used by the Ki-27, lying on its back.
Comments
Since the author had reached both crash sites, why were only the Japanese pilot's remains removed and carried back, and not the American's? What was the response from the Japanese Government? What was the response from the U.S. Government? Was there some governmental procedural glitch against returning the American's remains? Did the Phillipine Government participate? AUTHOR'S ANSWERS BELOW: Since the author had reached both crash sites, why were only the Japanese pilot's remains removed and carried back, and not the American's?>> The American' remains have not yet been located. Two soldiers reported finding the remains back in 1942 and burying them near the wreck, but they have not been found. A proper recovery operation at that site requires considerable more time, equipment, personnel and supplies than we had with us. *** What was the response from the Japanese Government? The Japanese veterans organization which we work with and the pilot's family are very appreciaative. A contingent is coming to Bataan soon to complete the recovery of remains. *** What was the response from the U.S. Government? JPAC in Hawaii is aware of the discovery and has plans to conduct an Initial Expedition in the future, but there are problems with terrorism in the Philippines that have to be addressed first. Security is a prime issue with JPAC, and arrival of a large team is not something that can be kept out of the public eye, as opposed to our private effort. *** Was there some governmental procedural glitch against returni ng the American's remains? See responses above. *** Did the Phillipine Government participate? No.
Posted by Charles Griffith on July 16,2009 | 02:44PM
I read the story several times and too was surprised that the remains of both brave pilots were not recovered. I feel that this may be comforting to some degree to the respective families, but will not replace that empty space in their hearts that has been there for all these years. I hope the mission can be completed. I love to read all things aviation especially military history and would like to read the opinions and ideas of other pilots from this era and in these types of fighters as to what they think happened. I suppose a collision can be ruled out. Could Lieutenant Stone's P-40 not out maneuver Sergeant Kurosawa's fixed gear Ki-27? Perhaps the P-40 had also sufferred battle and Sergeant Kurosawa got behind the P-40, either behind him on his tail? Could both have flown into the terrain during the speeds of a dogfight? I hope some other interested readers will respond and I would like to thank the author and his party for a difficult undertaking that otherwise would have probably never happened. THE AUTHOR, RALPH WETTERHAHN, REPLIES: The P-40 has better performance than the Ki-27, but there were several aircraft engaged at the same time. Once a pilot "saddles up" behind another aircraft, he becomes vulnerable to attack from behind because his speed and turn rate are close to that of the lesser-performing plane. Thus Stone may have been chasing one Japanese plane while another got on his tail. So far we have no evidence of battle damage to the P-40, but the larger parts of the plane have been removed, so we may never know. The Ki-27 showed damage to the gear box and exhaust stacks, so we know he took some hits. Could both have flown into terrain? Yes, but not likely as the impact angle of the P-40 suggest it made no attempt to avoid impact, whereas the impact angle of the Ki-27 indicates an attempt to clear the ridge. The steep angle of impact of the P-40 suggests it was no longer in pilot-controlled flight. There are a number of possible explanations, but one tries to propose the "most likely" scenario, and go from there to other alternate possibilities. That's what I do in the case of incomplete evidence such as this.
Posted by Donald Price on August 5,2009 | 12:39PM