thedrifter
12-26-08, 08:34 AM
Pilot ID'd in WWII Corsair wreck
Like most bent-wing bombers, plane likely built in Stratford
By JOHN BURGESON
Staff writer
Updated: 12/25/2008 10:19:48 PM EST
In 1944 the huge Japanese base at Rabaul in Papua, New Guinea, was under heavy bombardment by Allied forces in an operation known as Operation Cartwheel.
One of the U.S. Marine Corsair pilots who was lost over Rabaul in that World War II operation, Maj. Marion R. McCown Jr., will finally be buried Jan. 18, with full military honors in Charleston, S.C.
According to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, McCown's aircraft, the vaunted Chance-Vought F4U Corsair, was declared lost Jan. 20, 1944, after it failed to return from a combat mission.
Earlier this year, a JPAC team confirmed through dental records and circumstantial evidence that a WWII Corsair wreck that had been known about since 1991 is McCown's aircraft. The announcement was made by JPAC last Friday.
According to U.S. military officials, about 2,200 U.S. servicemen are believed to be missing in action in New Guinea. In all, there are 88,000 American MIAs from conflicts in the 20th Century; about half were lost at sea.
Nearly all the bent-wing Corsair fighter-bombers were built in Stratford, all with 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney engines from East Hartford. More than 11,000 were produced during the war years.
Nick Mainiero, former manager of Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford and a Corsair pilot during World War II, said it's unfortunate McCown's Corsair isn't intact.
"It's worth a lot of money now, you know," he said. "I was told that a Corsair in flying condition is worth about $2 million today."
He added the plane's wreckage probably "wasn't much worse than the one I picked up in Honduras," in reference to the Corsair that was mounted on a pedestal at the airport and which is now undergoing restoration.
"It was a wheels-up job, from what they call the boneyard."
That aircraft is being worked on at the Connecticut Air and Space Center on Sniffens Lane in Stratford. That is housed in part of the former Army engine plant on Main Street. Not yet open to the public, it houses a collection of discarded helicopters, turbine engines, test planes and other aviation memorabilia. It's also the building where Corsairs were assembled by the thousands.
Mainiero, as with most Corsair jockeys, was a U.S. Marine pilot who served in WWII's Pacific Theater. He lost an eye and nearly lost an arm from anti-aircraft fire while flying his Corsair in the battle for the Marshall Islands.
But at least Mainiero came back alive.
McCown, according to a story by Brian Hicks in the Charleston Post & Courier, was a student at Georgia Tech and had a private pilot's license when he joined the Marines in 1943.
He soon found himself in Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-321, stationed in the Solomon Islands. In one mission, he had to ditch his fighter in the Solomon Sea because of engine trouble. He was rescued by a PT boat.
On Jan. 20, 1944, he was assigned to escort bombers, destination Rabaul, about 200 miles to the west. According to his wing man, 1st Lt. Robert See, they were set upon by dozens of Mitsubishi AM6 "Zeros" as the bombers approached the target. Vastly outnumbered, See spotted an enemy fighter in hot pursuit of McCown's blue Corsair, and that's the last time he was seen until the wreckage was found in a jungle hillside on the New Guinea island of New Britain a half-century later.
McCown was 27 and unmarried when his plane was shot down.
His funeral will take place at 3 p.m. Jan, 18 in the Unitarian Church, 4 Archdale St., Charleston, S.C.
Ellie
Like most bent-wing bombers, plane likely built in Stratford
By JOHN BURGESON
Staff writer
Updated: 12/25/2008 10:19:48 PM EST
In 1944 the huge Japanese base at Rabaul in Papua, New Guinea, was under heavy bombardment by Allied forces in an operation known as Operation Cartwheel.
One of the U.S. Marine Corsair pilots who was lost over Rabaul in that World War II operation, Maj. Marion R. McCown Jr., will finally be buried Jan. 18, with full military honors in Charleston, S.C.
According to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, McCown's aircraft, the vaunted Chance-Vought F4U Corsair, was declared lost Jan. 20, 1944, after it failed to return from a combat mission.
Earlier this year, a JPAC team confirmed through dental records and circumstantial evidence that a WWII Corsair wreck that had been known about since 1991 is McCown's aircraft. The announcement was made by JPAC last Friday.
According to U.S. military officials, about 2,200 U.S. servicemen are believed to be missing in action in New Guinea. In all, there are 88,000 American MIAs from conflicts in the 20th Century; about half were lost at sea.
Nearly all the bent-wing Corsair fighter-bombers were built in Stratford, all with 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney engines from East Hartford. More than 11,000 were produced during the war years.
Nick Mainiero, former manager of Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford and a Corsair pilot during World War II, said it's unfortunate McCown's Corsair isn't intact.
"It's worth a lot of money now, you know," he said. "I was told that a Corsair in flying condition is worth about $2 million today."
He added the plane's wreckage probably "wasn't much worse than the one I picked up in Honduras," in reference to the Corsair that was mounted on a pedestal at the airport and which is now undergoing restoration.
"It was a wheels-up job, from what they call the boneyard."
That aircraft is being worked on at the Connecticut Air and Space Center on Sniffens Lane in Stratford. That is housed in part of the former Army engine plant on Main Street. Not yet open to the public, it houses a collection of discarded helicopters, turbine engines, test planes and other aviation memorabilia. It's also the building where Corsairs were assembled by the thousands.
Mainiero, as with most Corsair jockeys, was a U.S. Marine pilot who served in WWII's Pacific Theater. He lost an eye and nearly lost an arm from anti-aircraft fire while flying his Corsair in the battle for the Marshall Islands.
But at least Mainiero came back alive.
McCown, according to a story by Brian Hicks in the Charleston Post & Courier, was a student at Georgia Tech and had a private pilot's license when he joined the Marines in 1943.
He soon found himself in Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-321, stationed in the Solomon Islands. In one mission, he had to ditch his fighter in the Solomon Sea because of engine trouble. He was rescued by a PT boat.
On Jan. 20, 1944, he was assigned to escort bombers, destination Rabaul, about 200 miles to the west. According to his wing man, 1st Lt. Robert See, they were set upon by dozens of Mitsubishi AM6 "Zeros" as the bombers approached the target. Vastly outnumbered, See spotted an enemy fighter in hot pursuit of McCown's blue Corsair, and that's the last time he was seen until the wreckage was found in a jungle hillside on the New Guinea island of New Britain a half-century later.
McCown was 27 and unmarried when his plane was shot down.
His funeral will take place at 3 p.m. Jan, 18 in the Unitarian Church, 4 Archdale St., Charleston, S.C.
Ellie