Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 6-11-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

— 10 El Paso Herald-Post, TX. “10 Given Up As Lost With Navy Bomber.” 6-10-1942, p. 16.

— 10 Freeze, Ken.. “The Disappearance of Navy Flight 86, June 5, 1942.” Check-Six.com.

— 9 Ostrom, Thomas P. The United States Coast Guard and National Defense. 2012, p. 120.

— 7 ASN. Accident description…[US] Navy…Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina…05 Jun 1942.”

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network: “Missing on navigation flight over Gulf of Mexico.”[1] (ASN. Accident description…United States Navy…Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina…05 Jun 1942.”)

Freeze: “On the morning of June 5, 1942, U.S. Navy PBY-5A #05023 was readied for a regular 8-hour flight. It would be a combination training and antisubmarine patrol out over the Gulf of Mexico, and as such had four 325-pound depth charges attached to its wings. The PBY was also loaded with 1200 rounds of 30-caliber ammunition along with 700 rounds of 50-caliber ammo. For the day, the PBY would be designated Flight 86 assigned to patrol Sector 5.

“At 7:10, the PBY-5A departed NAS Pensacola, piloted by Ensign Malcolm W. Bird, with the flight crew made up of AMM1 William D. Price, AOM3 Allen W. Shepherd, AMM2 Earl D. Barnard, ARM3 Thomas S. Holleran and ARM3 John M. Ernst. Flying. Flying along as students were AMM1 Leverne E. Shaffstall, AMM1 Forrest E. Bruce, AMM2 Johnnie E. Boyett and AMM2 Richard L. Fisher the only Coast Guardsmen aboard.

“According to testimony given by Executive Officer of Squadron 4, Lt Justin A. Miller, all was proceeding well with the flight until they missed their 11 a.m. position report. “No action was taken at that time because it was considered likely that the plane had experienced radio trouble and having such a problem would return to the base, which was standard squadron doctrine,” he said. Although contact had not been established with Flight 86, at noon, a message was sent to them to investigate a report by a Honduran ship, the SS Granada, that they were being followed by a sub. There was no response from Flight 86.

“As the day worn on, the communications center tried repeatedly to contact Flight 86. At 2:45 pm, another PBY, Flight 97, which was patrolling Sector 3, was ordered to search Sector 5, fuel permitting.

“If the flight had continued as planned it would have returned to the NAS Pensacola shortly after 3 p.m. The time came and went with no sign of Flight 86. Late in the day, three planes were sent out to search for Flight 86. As the planes searched….

“The next day…40 planes from Squadron’s 4 and 5 searched the Gulf. In addition, Army and Coast Guard planes searched along with Navy destroyers. Although one of the search planes reported what appeared to be a submerged wing, it appeared to have a yellow tip, something the missing PBY did not have. The search was expanded on the 7^th and continued through the 8^th until it was finally suspended, with no sign of Flight 86 being found….

“Board of Inquire Convened

“On June 9^th a Board of Inquiry was convened to investigate the probable cause for the disappearance of Flight 86. During the five days of the inquiry, a number of interesting facts were uncovered, among them were:

Ensign Bird, while considered a competent pilot, did have an event of vertigo while flying. LTjg Bryan D. Sheedy reported that while flying with Ensign Bird three months earlier on a very dark and hazy night, Ensign Bird’s eyes froze on the instrument panel and the plane started into a spiral, losing altitude. “He didn’t seem to realize what he was doing,” said Sheedy. “I let him stay in it for about a 180 degree turn. At that point the speed was picking up rapidly, and the spiral was tightening. I had to take the controls away from him. He told me afterwards that he was just fascinated by the instruments, and that he just couldn’t seem to correct. He told me he was glad I was there because he didn’t know what he would do.”

“The pilot of the PBY, Flight 97, the plane sent from Sector 3 to search Sector 5, reported weather conditions in Sector 5 as very poor. Clouds were down to 100 feet in some places, with heavy rain and squalls, and visibility varying from only 200 years to 800 yards. The weather was so bad that at times he had to fly on instruments.

“That a few weeks earlier, in early May, a PBY from Squadron 4 reported being fired on. The pilot reportedly saw what looked like machine gun tracer bullets coming at them. The incident happened in the same sector that Flight 86 had been patrolling near the mouth of the Mississippi River.

“The Board was unable to determine an exact cause for the disappearance of Flight 86, only that in the board’s opinion the disappearance of PBY-5A #05023, was not caused by the intent, fault, negligence or inefficiency of any person or persons in the naval service or connected therewith….

“On June 20^th, fifteen days after Flight 86 disappeared, the Coast Guard picked up a tail wheel assembly and two unused rubber rafts, off Grand Isle, Louisiana. Further investigation revealed that they had indeed come from Flight 86. Although some wreckage of the craft had been found, it shed no light on what occurred and the mystery of what happened still remained.” ( Freeze, Ken.. “The Disappearance of Navy Flight 86, June 5, 1942.” Check-Six.com.)

Ostrom: “AMM2 Richard L. Fisher (USCG) flew a PBY patrol bomber out of Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola (Florida) on 5 June 1942. PBY-5A Catalina 05023 flew over the Gulf of Mexico with eight USN aviators on board for navigation training. After military authorities determined the PBY was overdue, an unsuccessful search for the aircraft and crew was conducted.” (Ostrom, Thomas P. The United States Coast Guard and National Defense: A History from World War I to the Present. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2012, p. 120.)

Newspaper

June 10, El Paso Herald-Post: “Pensacola, Fla., June 10. – (UP) – Ten men aboard a PBY patrol bomber which has been missing since last Friday [June 5] are ‘missing and must be presumed lost,’ the naval air station announced today. The plane took off Friday afternoon on a routine navigation flight over the Gulf of Mexico.” (El Paso Herald-Post, TX. “10 Given Up As Lost With Navy Bomber.” 6-10-1942, p. 16.)

Sources

Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safey Foundation, Database, 1942. Accident Description. United States Navy…Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina…05 Jun 1942.” Accessed 4-29-2013: http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19420605-0

El Paso Herald-Post, TX. “10 Given Up As Lost With Navy Bomber.” 6-10-1942, p. 16. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=90523802&sterm=pensacola+lost+gulf

Freeze, Ken. “The Disappearance of Navy Flight 86, June 5, 1942.” Check-Six.com. Accessed 10/16/2009 at: http://www.check-six.com/Coast_Guard/5_June_1942_PBY_Disappears.htm

Ostrom, Thomas P. The United States Coast Guard and National Defense: A History from World War I to the Present. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2012. Partially Google digitized. Accessed 6-11-2023 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=Mk1kpP0X3A0C&printsec=frontcover&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false

[1] Cites Baugher, Joe. US Navy and US Marine Corps Aircraft Serial Numbers and Bureau Numbers.

1942 — June 5, USN PBY-5A 05023 lost, NAS Pensacola, FL flight over Gulf of Mexico– 10