John Mims

John Mims is TIGHAR member 1936. We first located him back in March of 1995, or more accurately, his daughter Rosemary Fisk, TIGHAR member 1934, located us to tell us about the stories her father had told for many years. We interviewed Dr. Mims at his home in Tuscumbia, Alabama and his recollections appeared in TIGHAR Tracks Vol. 11, No. 3 in September 1995 in an article entitled "Catch of the Day." His picture was featured on the cover. (That particular issue is not on the website.)

Mims was the copilot of PBY-5 BuNo 08456 that flew resupply flights from Canton to Loran stations on several islands, including Gardner, in late 1944/early 1945. Ric Gillespie: "We have the paperwork on those flights. I can tell you how many pounds of mayonnaise were delivered on a particular day."

On one trip, John and his navigator were shown a big fish that had been caught the night before by the Gilbertese villagers on Gardner. They noticed that the hook was made of bent-over pieces of sheet aluminum and that the leader was an airplane control cable. They asked where the parts came from and were told, through an interpreter, that "when our people first came to the island there was a plane here." They did ask where the plane was now and received only an I-don't-know shrug for an answer. They were curious enough to later make inquiries of the British District Officer back on Canton as to whether any British aircraft had gone missing in the area before the war. None had.

Mims has a collection of small kanawa wood boxes he received as presents from the villagers on Gardner. They are inlaid with small decorative pieces of metal which he was told is metal from the plane. He allowed us to remove one for testing. It is 24ST Alclad --- aircraft aluminum. That this is not just a tale he concocted after seeing publicity about TIGHAR's work is confirmed by his daughter's recollections of playing with the boxes as a young girl. She always knew them as "the boxes with the metal from the crashed plane."

Mims' story is anecdote but it fits perfectly in a mosaic of other anecdotes from Fiji and Funafuti which tell of an airplane wreck at Gardner Island before World War II.

Source: Forum Highlights.