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» Missing Air Crew Forums » Pat's Missing Air Crew Project Blog » Another missing crew member found for the TBM-3 with VMTB-232 lost on March 16, 45

   
Author Topic: Another missing crew member found for the TBM-3 with VMTB-232 lost on March 16, 45
Patrick Ranfranz
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Re: Information about a third crew member found for the TBM-3 with VMTB-232 that was shot down on on March 16, 1945 over Yap Island

In my initial research I missed the third crew member of the TBM-3 Avenger that was shot down and crashed near the Yap airfield on March 16, 1945. The third crew member was Edgar Norcross from New Hampshire.

Yap Island Mission Loss—16 March 1945: http://www.missingaircrew.com/yap/mac/16march1945.asp

This particular missing air crew case is very interesting due to the fact that only one of the crew members were recovered from the crash site after the war. The TBM went down and crashed near the NE corner of the Yap airstrip. The wreckage and the grave marker(s) were photographed after the war. Pictures of the crash site can be viewed at the following links:

http://www.missingaircrew.com/images/tim/16march1945.JPG
http://www.missingaircrew.com/images/tim/16sept1945.JPG

In 1947 the US registration team recovered a “double grave” from this crash site but only one crew member (Kenneth D Gillispie) was listed as a recovered. I’m wondering the recovery teams knew the wreckage was from a TBM that had three crew members. Since the crash site was on land and in one area (dived straight into the ground) it’s very likely that all three sets of remains were at the site and/or in the grave site that was recovered. Please see the grave recovery document at the following link:
http://www.missingaircrew.com/pdf/8april1947yap.pdf

The remains of the three crew members were likely mixed together and the recovery document seems to validate this yet the Army only sent the remains home to the Kenneth Gillispie family. I forwarded this information to the Dept of Army, however, I have not received a reply as of today.

-Pat
Posts: 682 | From: Cameron, Wisconsin | Registered: Dec 2004  |  Logged: 63.231.183.145
   

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