Aircraft lost in the vicinity of Nikumaroro

Derived from table created by Ric Gillespie, Forum, 26 January 2001. In that same thread, Gillespie wrote:

Emily's anecdote about old aircraft wreckage on the reef dates from sometime between her arrival on Gardner in early 1940 to her departure in November 1941. There are no known losses in the region, or the whole Central Pacific for that matter, prior to that time which could account for that wreckage --- except one.

The chances of an unknown aircraft loss in that region prior to that time is so remote as to approach nil. Bottom line: if Emily saw aircraft wreckage, it was NR16020.

This list is also important for tracking possible sources of the navigator's bookcase found during TIGHAR's first Niku expedition in 1989.

Date	Service	Type	BuNo	Squadron	Details
11 January 1938	Pan Am	Sikorski S-42	n/a	n/a	The Samoan Clipper exploded in mid-air shortly after takeoff over Pago Pago harbor in American Samoa, which is 600+ NM from Nikumaroro.
16 March 1940	USN	PBY-2	0487	VP-25	Hit reef on takeoff from Canton.
January 1942	USN	PBY		VP-23	Lost near Canton during night takeoff.
22 June 1942	USAAF	Boeing B-17E	41-9208		"Short of Rwy, Canton Island, PAC. Written off (damaged beyond repair)."
October 1942	USAAF	B-17D			Enroute Hawaii to Canton missed Canton and ditched near the Ellice Group. (Rickenbacker on board).
13 November 1942	USAAF	P-39D			Crashed on Canton, pilot killed.
15 December 1942	USN	PBM			Hit reef while taxiing at Canton.
7 February 1943	AATC	C-87	41-23903		"...The C-87 rolled and dived into the water while turning on finals to Canton Island. The flight was being operated by United Airlines under contract to the Army Air Transport Command. It was deemed possible that an asymmetric flap deployment caused the accident."
12 February 1943	USN	PBY-5	8033	VP-71	Engine fire on takeoff at Canton. Crashed and sank.
27 March 1943	USN	PBY-5A of VP-54			Destroyed in Japanese bombing attack on Canton.
13 August 1943	USN	PBY-5			Beached at Canton after being shot up by Japanese Kawanishi H8K "Emily" flying boat.
18 September 1943	USAAF	P-39Q			Spun into sea on takeoff at Canton. Pilot killed.
5 October 1943	USN	PBY-5A	33967		Forced landing at sea enroute to Canton. Sank while under tow to Canton.
20 October 1943		Consolidated PB4Y-1	32102	VB-106	Lost at sea. "ex USAAF B-24D 42-40882." "10/20/1943 PB4Y-1 32102 VB-106 Funafuti Canton Empire Lt Samuel I. Patella" "Missing in flight from Canton Island to Funa Futi. 9 missing" "CFAW-2 JUN; VB-106 JUL-OCT; Flight Canton Island to Funafuti, crashed at sea 400 mi. SW of Canton Isl. Loss date 18 Oct 1943. Stricken 20 OCT 1943."
23 October 1943	IJN	Kawanishi H8K "Emily"			Shot down by P-40s 70 miles south of Baker. Two other Emilies had previously been shot down by F-6-Fs from the light carrier USS Princeton CV-22 in the vicinity of Howland and Baker.
18 November 1943		PB4Y-1	32123	VB-108	Non-combat mission. "Ex-USAAF B-24D 42-40950 ... Ditched at sea "near Funa Futi." Entire crew of ten rescued six days later. One passenger missing. Pilot Lt. P. Hard & 9 crew survived.
17 December 1943	USAAF	C-47A	43-30739		Crashed at Sydney Island during sightseeing flight. Nine fatalities.
30 December 1943	USN	PBY-5A	3393		Missing enroute from Baker to Makin.
11 January 1944	USN	PBJ (B-25)			Missing enroute from Canton to Tutuilla, Samoa.
16 February 1944	USN	PBY-5			Sank off Canton
10 May 1944	Canadian?	C-87			Tire blew on takeoff, aircraft hit revetments, burned.
10 June 1944	USN	PBM-3D	48199		Engine fire, forced landing, beached at Howland. Aircraft burned.
19 July 1944	USAAF	B24J Liberator	41029		"Crashed after takeoff from Canton Island, Pacific Ocean, Jul 19, 1944 near the reef edge. 5 killed"
2 August 1944	USN	PV-1	33247	VMF(N)531	Gear up landing after aborted takeoff at Canton. Pilot: Marvin E. Notestine
5 September 1944	USN	PBM-3D	45236	VP-200	Engine failure, forced landing at sea (exact location unknown); flooded and sank in high seas.
22 October 1944	USN	PBJ (B-25)			Destroyed in taxiing accident on Canton.
31 October 1944	USN	PBJ (B-25)			Destroyed in taxiing accident on Canton.
23 April 1945	USAAF	B-24M-35-CO	44-42473		Damaged in landing accident at Topham Field, Canton Island. Pilot: Edward A. Dibler, Jr.
26 April 1962	FAA	Lockheed L-749A Constellation			Crashed during touch and go landing at Canton.

To do

Forum.

Date:         Wed, 19 Dec 2001 19:26:21 EST
From:         Woody
Subject:      Re: Titanic confusion

Ric, I'd like to take exception to one of this guy's statements. Baker
Island is 38 miles south of Howland Island. It was used as a staging and
refueling base in WW2 from November of 1943 to the end of the war in 1945
when it was abandoned. B24's used Baker via Canton to stage bombing raids
into the Marshall Islands. Baker was a regular route for refueling planes
that were being ferried into the Pacific Theater of Operations up to the
cessation of hostilities. There are parts of a B-24 that crashed on Baker
Island on December 6, 1943--I have the 7th AF mission report on it. I have
many of the AF mission reports for flights in that area, anyone that says
there was no military activity in the area during the war doesn't bother
with that most basic of all tools--research!

Links

• Pacific Wrecks.