Team from the U.S. and South Korea Search for Missing Korean War Era B-26 Bomber
This would be a really interesting mission to be part of. Hopefully they are able to find this wreck:
Teams from the U.S. and South Korea tasked with recovering wartime remains launched a joint underwater search in South Korea this week for a bomber and its crew that crashed during the 1950-53 Korean War.
Twenty-two divers and underwater archaeologists from the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the South Korean Agency for Killed in Action Recovery Identification, or MAKRI, started searching Tuesday for a U.S. B-26 Invader off Haeundae Beach in Busan, according to a Ministry of National Defense news release. Investigators are using sonar equipment and magnetic detectors to comb through 4.6 square-miles of water until the search ends Sept. 27, the ministry said Tuesday.
South Korea’s navy and coast guard will provide weather information and logistical support throughout the investigation. Three crew members of the B-26 assigned to the 5th Air Force are believed to have died when their aircraft crashed into the sea after taking off from the K-9 Busan East Air Base in January 1953, according to the ministry.
You can read more at the link.
Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2024-09-04/korean-war-dpaa-b-26-missing-busan-15065538.html
Source – Stars and Stripes
Doesn’t say if anyone beyond the three Survived the crash. Depending on configuration, minimal crew if only the three, maintenance test flight maybe? So many MIA flight crews out there, be nice to recover one.
The “B-26” of the 1950s was not the “Martin B-26 Marauder” of WWII, rather, is was a “Douglas A-26 Invader” renamed B-26 from 1948 to 1965.
I think 3 crew was standard.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_A-26_Invader
PIC, co-pilot, flight engineer, what about navigator or had that crew spot been eliminated by 53?
Pilot, Navigator/Bombardier/front gun loader, gunner