| P-MAN X Update #03 - The Team If all went as planned, Flip arrived in Palau this evening (Wednesday), so it's really begun! Friday the 22nd, Grover leaves from North Carolina and I leave from Pittsburgh. He and I meet up in Houston, and we'll stop in Honolulu, where Pat will join us en route from San Francisco. The three of us will continue to Guam and Yap, and we'll arrive in Koror Saturday evening. Then in a week, Laura Regan joins us from D.C. Here's this year's team: |
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Pat has been
coming to Palau in search of WWII MIA crash sites since 1993. Pat's Ph.D. is
in Chemistry, and his M.D. is one of the many reasons we like to have him
on the team. Plus he carries a great first-aid kit. He's knowledgeable
in many areas, and he's a fearless but very smart explorer. Over the years
his methodical, ethical approach to everything he does has earned him the
highest respect among the Palauans with whom the BentProp team works. Pat's
inspirational leadership is a principal reason why the members of this
unusual team keep coming back to Palau year after year. |
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Joe, who lives in Koror,
has been part of the BentProp team for over a decade. Among many other things,
Joe was instrumental in 2004 in helping the team locate the underwater
crash site
of an AAF B-24 that was shot down in September 1944, and for which the BentProp
team had been searching for many years. Joe's sons, pictured here
with Joe in a photo by Joe's lovely wife Esther, are Doyle (left,
named after Jimmie Doyle, the tail gunner on that
B-24)
and Quint (right,
named after Quintus
Nelson, a Marine F-4U pilot whose aircraft crashed in 1945 only a few
hundred meters from where Joe works). The
Palauans
understand
family! |
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Pictured here in the front office of his Northwest
Airlines Airbus, Flip is a talented researcher, intrepid explorer, and often
serves as the team breakfast chef. He specializes in Spam, and in the absence
of a kitchen timer, he makes occasional use of the smoke alarm in coordinating
his food preparation. After letting his beard grow for a couple of weeks, he's
a ringer for French actor Jean
Reno, but without the annoying attitude and
French accent. With Flip, it's more of a Michigan attitude. |
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Reid's first mission to Palau with the BentProp team was in 2000.
This will be his fifth mission. In addition to having some background with
WWII aircraft, he spent roughly 25 years maintaining his own aerobatic airplane.
Since retiring
from his human-factors research career, he's done some consulting for a Pittsburgh-based
company that builds full-motion
flight simulators. He also sings bass in a
mixed jazz quartet/quintet. |
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Grover is new to the BentProp team this year, but he has been a JPAC Recovery
Team Leader in both Vietnam and Palau. In Palau, he led the JPAC Recovery Team that
investigated two sites that had been located and identified by BentProp. |
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Laura is also new to the BentProp team this year. Her “real-world” duties entail identification efforts and trauma analysis for current military conflict fatalities. She has worked with JPAC in Southeast Asia and consulted for the FBI, State Department, Peace Corps, and local law enforcement. She knows her bones. As this picture attests, she’s also obviously the most photogenic member of the team. |
Depending on how long it takes to get our Internet connectivity up and running, it might be a couple of days after we arrive before the first Progress Report from the field is published. Stay tuned... - Reid |
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