CASUALTIES (in chronological order)
FRANKLIN H MCKINNEY 05 November 1944
A probable crash site has been located and is currently under investigation by the US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).
See USAAF P-38 crashed at Mae Kua; Franklin McKinney killed for current information.((Photo provided by Dan Jackson.))
HENRY F MINCO 11 November 1944
A probable crash site has been located and is currently under investigation by the US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). See USAAF P-51 crashed near Lampang; Henry Minco killed for current information.1
WAS SOONTARAKOMAN 11 NOVEMBER 1944
RTAF histories record five fighters, from RTAF Fighter Squadron 16 of Combined Wing 80 based at Lampang, combating Allied attacking aircraft with all Thai aircraft downed in and around Lampang, and one RTAF pilot killed.2 The dead pilot was identified in one RTAF history3 as วาสน์ สุนทรโกมล, which transliterates roughly as Was Soontarakoman:4
Another source noted that during an aerial dogfight around 1700 hrs, his aircraft was terminally damaged by Allied aircraft gunfire and he was severely wounded in the process. He succeeded in parachuting from his fighter and rescuers took him to hospital where he died around 2200 hrs.5
He was one of two pilots identified in the RTAF history of WW2 as shooting down P‑51s on this date6 however, USAAF records show only one aircraft, that piloted by Minco (see above article), as lost during that mission.7
While RTAF histories record the air encounter over Lampang and his death on 17 November 1944,8 the numerous Allied documents cited here on associated activities state the 11 November date and the latter is assumed correct.
THOMAS R ANKRIM
07 December 1944
((Service Personnel Not Recovered Following World War II.))
((Photo: 2Lt Thomas R Ankrim.))
((Chestnut Level Presbyterian Cemetery, Drumore Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. This record is misleading: the family erected a small memorial to the pilot on the plots; however, there are no remains buried there.))
No “missing air crew report” (MACR) has been found for this event.
In response to a query as to how often “missing crew reports” are not filed, Accireport responded:
Missing Air crew reports [began] in May/June 1943, so with the exception of some reports made months or years after the incidents, there are no reports for most before that period. After May/June 1943, there are reports for most losses in which crew members were not accounted for, but some were still overlooked or omitted. Reports for accidents and missing air crew in the Pacific areas were hit and miss, [and while] there were far fewer incidents, far more went unreported.9
and
It is very common to [learn only later of unlisted service personnel not recovered]. Hundreds of airplanes crashed into the Atlantic, Pacific, English Channel, North Sea, and swamps and jungles all over the world.((Accireport email dated 2157 hrs 21 Apr 2009. And The Official Chronology of the US Army Airforce in World War II: 1945.))
For 07 December 1944, the USAAF chronology records no action over Thailand.[83] A USAAF mission report for that date located his crash in Burma just across from Mae Sai, Thailand.10
THEODORE H DEMEZAS
12 July 1945
Accident-Report.com records:11
Thai Aviation’s Thai Air Accidents records:12
TRANSCRIPT:
Hit by small arms fire whilst on a reconnaissance mission and crashed approx. 12 miles NW of Lampang airfield [18°25’N, 99°25’E]. Pilot 1st Lt Theodore H. Demezas bailed out [MACR 14710] (Note: Lt Buntao Punsri operated a flak gun wagon at Lampang Station and claimed to have shot down a P-38. The pilot, Demezas, bailed out successfully and, as the RTAF was living a ‘double-life’ during the war, the gunner tried to locate the pilot to render some help. However, the RTA was the first to reach the scene and captured the pilot. Lt Col. Sarit Tanarat, the army commander, sent Demezas to the Thai underground, Thosd Panthumasen, at a sugar factory near Koh Ka. From there, Demezas went to a Thai managed POW camp near Bangkok where he spent the few remaining days of the war.)
USAAF chronology13 shows no activity in the Lampang area during 1945 As standard procedure, reconnaissance flights were not recorded in that event list((Lt Col Terry Popravak, USAF (retired and maintaining The 35th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron website) clarifies that the official USAAF chronology did not list individual aerial photo missions, nor were records reliable in listing unit relocations such as that of his 35PRS (his email of 1340 09 Feb 2014).)) .
Last Updated on 10 February 2024
- Photo provided by Mike Roberts author of “Fallen Tiger”, Cleveland Magazine, June 2004 Internet copy: no page number [↩]
- RTAF 1913-1983, p 330 and RTAF WW2, pp 164-165. [↩]
- RTAF WW2, p 165. [↩]
- Young (p 205) identified the pilot as CWO Nat Sunthorn. The reason for the widely varying transliterations of his name are unclear. The transliteration of his name comes closer to Was Soontarakoman. [↩]
- Picture and information from รัตนชัย, สักดิ์, ปาะวัติศาสต์ศึกษายุทธเวหาลำปาง [Rattanachai, Saksern S, Aircraft History of Lampang (Lampang: (self-published), undated)], Ch 59, page 103. Additional information from Kamrobe. [↩]
- RTAF WW2, p 165. [↩]
- USAAF 25th Fighter Squadron of the 51st Fighter Group, Mission Report FN-1211 of 11 Nov 1944 (provided by Dan Jackson email of 0201 23 Sep 2018). [↩]
- RTAF 1913-1983, p 330 and RTAF WW2, pp 164-165. The difference is probably the result of the similarity of 1 and 7 in written Thai: the 1 is not “crossed” while the 7 is. [↩]
- Accireport email dated 1753 hrs 08 Nov 2012. [↩]
- USAAF 25th Fighter Squadron of the 51st Fighter Group, Mission Report F-1363 of 07 Dec 1944 (provided by Dan Jackson email of 1314 22 Sep 2018). [↩]
- Accident-Report.com. While this source dates the crash as 02 July 1945, the MACR (Missing Air Crew Report) on Demezas dates his crash as 12 July 1945. The latter is assumed correct.Accident-Report.com. While this source dates the crash as 02 July 1945, the MACR (Missing Air Crew Report) on Demezas dates his crash as 12 July 1945. The latter is assumed correct. [↩]
- Thai-Aviation‘s Aircraft Accidents compilation, p 2, dated 02 Sep 2012. [↩]
- The Official Chronology of the US Army Airforce in World War II: 1945. [↩]
