7 on plane that crashed during WWII laid to rest

AP Wire | November 21 2003 | Associated Press

[knighthawk]

ANCHORAGE — The remains of seven servicemen whose plane crashed in Russia after taking off from Alaska during World War II were buried yesterday in Arlington National Cemetery.

The group burial was conducted with full military honors, the Defense Department said in a news release.

The servicemen were aboard a Navy bomber that left Attu Island in Alaska's Aleutian Islands on March 25, 1944, and headed for enemy targets in the Kurile Island of Japan.

The PV-1 Ventura bomber was part of a five-plane flight that encountered bad weather during the mission. The plane failed to return to its base, and a search found nothing.

The Defense Department identified the seven as Lt. Walter S. Whitman Jr. of Philadelphia; Lt. j.g. John W. Hanlon Jr. of Worcester, Mass.; Petty Officer 2nd Class Clarence C. Fridley of Manhattan, Mont.; Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald G. Lewallen of Omaha, Neb.; Petty Officer 2nd Class Jack J. Parlier of Decatur, Ill.; Petty Officer 3rd Class Samuel L. Crown Jr. of Columbus, Ohio; and Petty Officer 3rd Class James S. Palko of Superior, Wis.

In January 2000, representatives of a U.S.-Russia joint commission of prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action received a report about a Russian citizen who had found wreckage of a U.S. aircraft on the Kamchatka Peninsula in 1962. The peninsula is on the east coast of Russia.

Specialists from the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, along with members of the commission, went to the site and found wreckage and some human remains. The team returned to excavate the site in 2001. Additional remains were recovered.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[phasma proeliator]

General characteristics PV-1
Primary function	Reconaissance / bomber
Contractor	Vega Aircraft Corporation
Power plant	Two Pratt&Whitney R-2800 engines
Thrust	2x 1,850 HP		2x 1,380 kW
Wingspan	65.5 ft		19.96 m
Length	51.7 ft		15.77 m
Height	13.1 ft		4 m
Wingarea	551 sq ft		51.19 sq m
Weight	empty	19,375 lb	8,788 kg
	max.	31,080 lb	14,097 kg
Speed	300 mph		483 km/h
Ceiling	26,300 ft		8,015 m
Max. range	900 miles		1,448 km
Armament	4x 12.7mm and 2x 7.62mm machine gun; 1,134 kg bombs
Date deployed	1940
General characteristics PV-2
Primary function	Reconaissance / ASW
Contractor	Vega Aircraft Corporation
Power plant	Two Pratt&Whitney R-2800-31 engines
Thrust	2x 2,000 HP		2x 1,491 kW
Wingspan	75 ft		22.86 m
Height	14.1 ft		4.29 m
Weight	empty	24,000 lb	10,886 kg
	max.	40,000 lb	18,144 kg
Speed	282 mph		454 km/h
Ceiling	23,950 ft		7,300 m
Max. range	900 miles		1,448 km
Armament	9x 12.7mm machine gun; 1,814 kg bombs (torpedoes) or cargo
Crew	Five
Date deployed	1944

[Samwise]

May they rest in peace.

[Samwise]

ping

[ken5050]

I seem to recall stories about USAAF crew who were interred, and killed by the Soviets, when their B-29's had to make emergency landings in the good ole USSR...Stalin reverse engineered the plane....that's how the Sovs got their bomber..