Attachment 12

NO FINDINGS: Negative searches on Ngeruktabel for a blue aircraft on ridge line, 22FEB07

Our first week of a typical mission is spent making courtesy calls and following up on leads from the prior year. During P-MAN VII (2005), the team worked with a Palauan guide who had reported aircraft debris in the Ngeruktabel jungles; however, that search was unsuccessful. Early in P-MAN IX, we met with our guide’s brother, who said he knew of an engine on top of the ridge on Ngeruktabel. He said that this location was further south than where we had looked in 2005. He also mentioned that he routinely entered Ngeruktabel from the east side for hunting and found a crash site on the top of a cliff but that route was difficult. He agreed to take us there by a west route. (Incidental to this crash site, he also knew of a Palauan (now deceased) who captured an American POW and turned him over to the Japanese – time and location uncertain).

Derek Abbey, having just returned home from his third tour of duty in Iraq, arrived on 21FEB07. We immediately put him to work the next day, rather abruptly transitioning him from deserts to jungles. Our new guide and his friend took the P-MAN IX team on the west side of Ngeruktabel approximately one mile to the south of our previous search area (from P-MAN VII). He said the aircraft was on the very top of the ridge, distinct from a known Japanese aircraft lying on the same ridge line to the north.

We hiked southeast up this now familiar steep and jagged coral hillside and halted at a small plateau about two-thirds the way up. These two guides insisted on reconnoitering alone from there; however after an extensive search taking several hours, they could not locate the aircraft. The hunters said the problem was that they typically entered the area from the east side (LESSON LEARNED) and, thus, were not adequately oriented. They did take us further up to a point near the top of the ridge and pointed out a 15 meter cliff, saying the plane was up there – but we were running out of jungle daylight and had to return to the boat (in time for a late afternoon swim in the Western Lagoon). The hunter stated getting to the very top was easier from the east side and agreed to search on his own and relocate the site, although we did not re-visit the site during P-MAN IX: hopefully P-MAN X.

Several American USN aircraft remain missing in this area, primarily due the attacks on ships in nearby Western Lagoon during Operation DESECRATE ONE (MAR44). Furthermore, the BentProp Project has received recent information concerning the single remaining missing B-24 and its crew of eight [5th BG(H), 13th AAF, Command Pilot, LT. Grant Rea (known MIA/POW), 44-40596, MACR 8873]. This new information from after action reports from adjacent bomber squadrons who witnessed the crash, suggest that the B-24 exploded in mid-air after a fighter attack possibly on or near southern Urukthapel (Ngeruktabel) – see photo map below. While we did not have time to return during P-MAN IX, this is a potential target for P-MAN-X (with eastern entry).

 
Left:Derek Joins PMAN-IX From Iraq. © B. Holler, 2007.        Right: Waiting on Ngeruktabel © D. Abbey, 2007

 
Left: Waiting on Ngeruktabel from Flip’s view © F. Colmer, 2007
Right: Exiting: Based on the lower water line at exit. we had
an easier time entering the jungle than leaving
© F. Colmer, 2007

Flip cooling off in Western Lagoon – it is not all hard work!
With permission, 2007

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