B29 39th Bomb Group (VH) Crew 26

Entire crew lost at sea April 28, 1945 after being rammed by Japanese kamikaze.

Front Row (kneeling) L to R:

2nd Lt Jim A. Mc Candless, Radar Observer; 2nd Lt Aaron M. Kopit, Pilot; 1st Lt Alexander Orionchek, Airplane Commander; 2nd Lt Charles B. Coutt, Bombardier; F/O David P. Donahoo, Navigator.

Back Row (standing) L to R:

Cpl Conrad E. Vogt, Radio Operator; Cpl Marvin H. Long, Right Gunner; #5 Cpl John C. Sprosty, Tail Gunner; #6 Sgt William L. Wood CFC Gunner; All others unknown at this time (T/Sgt Robert L. Addleman Flight Engineer; Cpl Albert P. Tomasetti Left Gunner).

The 20th Air Force's five wings were divided into 20 Bomb Groups. This is the history of one of those Groups. The 39th - stationed on Guam, the southernmost island in the Marianas.

On 28 April, one composite Squadron of the 39th of 12 aircraft, along with other groups of the 314th Wing, struck the Kushira Airfield. Eleven planes bombed the primary. The other, having arrived late at the assembly area joined the 19th Group and bombed Kanoya Airfield.

The weather was clear, and the bombing altitude was around 17,000 feet. So preoccupied with enemy aircraft, results at Kushira were reported as unobserved. Strike photographs indicated good to excellent, while results of the 19th were judged as only fair.

Enemy opposition was the heaviest encountered to date. Some 50 aircraft were present in the target area, and the enemy pressed 30 to 40 attacks on the formation. Gunners claimed nine destroyed, four probables, and four more damaged.

One plane ditched that day with 11 men and one passenger. This was Orionchek's Crew 26 with Clarence Beevers, engineer of P-31R on his orientation flight. P-26 had been rammed over the target. Pulley's crew would report the location of the ditching and all-12 men were in lifeboats. Bad weather prevented a rescue; the men disappeared about two days later.

"The reality of losing Beevers and the enlisted members of Orionchek's crew from our quonset was a shocker! The empty cots across the aisle was a reminder of the seriousness of the War. For Henry Snow, an observer on Pulley's crew, to see his own flight engineer lost was heartbreaking," stated David Smith, Tail Gunner, P-31.

The men of the "Black Sheep", Crew 34, were on a daylight strike against Kushira airfield on Kyushu, Japan on April 28, 1945. Bombing their target with excellent results from an altitude of 17,000 feet, despite a hail of heavy anti-aircraft fire and closely pressed attacks from an estimated over thirty fighters, they beat off the aggressive assaults from another fifteen fighters as they withdrew from the target. Just south of the coast, they spotted a crippled B-29, one of its engines afire and the distressed bomber was under attack by a swarm of interceptors. With utter disregard for personal safety, they deliberately closed in and protected the plane from attacks as long as possible. The B-29 was P-26 under the control of Lt Orionchek. The two planes were about 90 miles off the coast when it became necessary for Orionchek to ditch. Crew 34 circled the area and counted 12 men in the water and getting into lifeboats. It was painful for P-31's AC Henry Snow (riding as an observer) to know his engineer, Sgt Beevers, was with the crew below. Beevers was an observer riding with the strickened plane in the water.

Crew 34 threw out all of their emergency equipment, radios, life rafts and food. Contact with the Super-Dumbo's in the area was made with a fix on stations in the Aleutians and Hawaii. The Dumbo calculated it would take 45 minutes before they could arrive and P-34 was only able to stay some 25 minutes because of their fuel supply. It was necessary to send in code due to the nearness to Japan and that used all of the available time. In order to gain more air time,the bay tank was ejected as well as ammo from all guns. When the plane landed at Iwo, fuel was completely gone.

It was late in the day when news of the downed crew was reported on Iwo. Three crews, Crew 21 (William Senger,AC), Crew 23 (Joe Semanek, AC) and Crew 28 (Charles Miller,AC) were sent out early the next day to locate P-26. After spotting a downed crew in a life boat and contact for rescue, the search was called off. When the rescued crew reported its identity, it was not that of P-26. Another search was made but nothing else was ever discovered about P-26 or the 12 men

Honolulu Memorial - Tablets of the Missing - USA & USAAF - WORLD WAR II