20 DECEMBER 1942
CRASH OF A B-25 MITCHELL
IN OSPREY REEF AREA

visits since 20 December 2000

B-25D Mitchell, #41-29706, of the 90th Bomb Squadron, 3rd Bomb Group, USAAF, disappeared in the Osprey Reef area on 20 December 1942 during bad weather. No further news. It was in the process of making a permanent move from Charters Towers to Port Moresby.

The pilot, 1st Lt. Donald K. Emerson, attempted to fly below a rain squall but caught a wing on the water and crashed into the Coral Sea, killing all 10 aboard. All signs of the crashed aircraft had disappeared below the water within a minute.

AMERICAN BATTLE MONUMENTS COMMISSION
THE WORLD WAR II HONOR ROLL

Donald K. Emerson

First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces

0-429773

90th Bomber Squadron, 3rd Bomber Group, Large

Entered the Service from: California
Died: December 20, 1942
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery Manila, Philippines 
Awards: Silver Star 

Subject:    Crewmen lost aboard B-25D 41-29706
Date:             Sun, 26 Dec 99 18:40:09 -0700
From:            "Lawrence J. Hickey" <ljhickey@concentric.net>

Peter,

RE: your request for the crewmen lost aboard B-25D 41-29706 of the 90/3 on 20 Dec 42 in a crash while enroute to Port Moresby from Charters Towers, Queensland.

The ten aboard were:

EMERSON, 1/Lt. Donald K. Pilot
MILLER, 1/Lt. Robert F. Co-Pilot
BELCHER, S/Sgt. Albert Bombardier
FANTA, S/Sgt. Elmer R. Gunner
WALKER, S/Sgt. Everett E. Radio/Gunner
VIDMAR, Pvt. William S. Engineer
RUTH, Sgt. Donald D. Passenger
ST. SAUVEUR, Sgt. Richard H. Passenger
TAYLOR, Sgt. Stephen L. Passenger
KLEMMER, PFC. Delmar A. Passenger

Strangely, one of the members of this crew was carried as a POW as of mid-1944. This was S/Sgt. Ermer R. Fanta. Don't yet know the details, but will eventually get this (maybe picked up by a Japanese submarine?). If any of your site readers know anything about this, I'd like to hear from them. If Fanta was a POW, it is very unlikely that he survived imprisonment by the Japanese. The others were all carried as killed.

Emerson was a former A-20 pilot recently transferred to the 90th Sq., and the rest of his crew was well-experienced, having completed 20-30 combat missions by the time of the crash.

Yes, you can use the information I sent you on your web site, and yes, you did ID your site cross reference to 41-29709 correctly.

Larry Hickey

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank Larry Hickey for the above information on this crash.

SOURCE:-   Aircraft Crash Sites - Australia

Crash:         No. 20

Position:     13.50 - 146.06

Department of Aviation Chart No:       3112

Can anyone help me with more information on this crash?

Heaps of WW2 books available at Amazon.com

This page first produced 16 June 1999

This page last updated 01 June 2003