Last edit Dec 5, 2023 by Wayne Blanchard for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–21 Baugher, Joseph F. Recent Updates to List of USAF Serial Numbers. 1-21-2012 revision.

–21 PacificWrecks.com. “C-47A-35-DL ‘Gremlin Special/Guinea Gopher’ Serial No. 42-23952

[Lists the names of all 21 who were killed or died of injuries, as well as those rescued.]

–21 Wikipedia. “1945 New Guinea Gremlin Special rescue.” 1-20-2012 modification.

–20 ASN. Accident description. USAAF Douglas C-47B-20-DK, 1945, May 13, Irian Jaya.

–20 Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, 31.

–20 Lowell Sun, MA. “WAC, Airmen Saved From Jungle Shangri-La.” 6-30-1945, 1.

–20 Socrata, the Open Data Co. Airplane_Crashes_and_Fatalities_Since_1908(1).

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1945:

“Date: Sunday 13 May 1945

“Type: Douglas C-47B-20-DK (DC-3)

“Operator: United States Army Air Force – USAAF

“Registration: 43-49788

“MSN: 15604/27049

“First flight: 1945….

“Total: Fatalities: 20 / Occupants: 23….”^[1]

….

“Location: Irian Jaya (Papua New Guinea) [Papua & New Ginea combined in 1972.]

“Phase: En route (ENR)

“Nature: Military

“Departure airport: ?

“Destination airport: ?

“Narrative: Flew into the side of a mountain at an elevation of 7000 ft. (2100 m).

Three survivors were picked up nearly two weeks after the accident.

(Aviation Safety Network. Accident description. United States Army Air Force, Douglas C-47B-20-DK, 1945, May 13, Irian Jaya (Papua New Guinea).

Baugher: “42-23952 – The “Gremlin Special”. It crashed into a mountain in Dutch New Guinea on 13 May 1945; 24 people (7 WACs) aboard on a sightseeing jaunt. 19 were killed in the crash, five survived, but two died of their wounds before being rescued and the surviving three (including 1 WAC) were finally flown out by WACO glider snatch in late June 1945.”

(Baugher, Joseph F. Recent Updates to List of USAF Serial Numbers. 1-21-2012 revision.)

Gero:

“Date: 13 May 1945 (c.15:00)

“Location: Netherlands New Guinea (West Irian)….

“Operator: US Army Air Forces

“Aircraft type: Douglas C-47B (43-49788)

“All but three of the 23 American military personnel onboard were killed when the twin-engine

transport crashed and burned on a mountain at an approximate elevation of 7,000ft (2,000m). The injured survivors, who included a member of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), were found by a search party nearly two weeks later and taken back to civilization. No official military report pertaining to the crash or its possible cause was released.” (Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, 31.)

PacificWrecks.com: “Pilot Col. Peter Prossen, O-22803 (KIA) San Antonio, TX

Co-Pilot Major George H. Nicholson, O-298227 (KIA) Medford, MA

Engineer SSgt Hilliard Norris, 14072653 (KIA) Waynesville, NC
Asst Engineer Pfc Melvin A. Mollberg, 17035891 (KIA) Baudette, MN
Radio Pfc George R. Newcomer, 32273013 (KIA) Middletown, NY
Passenger T/Sgt Kenneth Decker, 19005776 (rescued) Kelso, Washington
Passenger  Cpl Margaret J. Hastings, A-218021 (rescued) Owego, NY
Passenger 1^st Lt. John S. McColom, O-467272 (rescued) Tranton, MS
Passenger 1^st Lt. Robert E. McCollom, O-468926 (KIA) MS
Passenger Maj. Herman F. Antonini, O-351875 (KIA) Danville, IL
Passenger  Cpl Charles R. Miller, 36181551 (KIA) Saint Joseph, MI
Passenger Captain Louis E. Freyman, O-392996 (KIA) IN
Passenger Pfc Marian C. Gillis, A-901668 (KIA) Hollywood, CA
Passenger 1^st Lt. Lawrence F. Holding, O-535205 (KIA) Raleigh, NC
Passenger Major Phillip J. Dattilo, O-336086 (KIA) Louisville, KY
Passenger Captain Herbert F. Good, O-262232 (KIA) Dayton, OH
Passenger Pfc Mary M. Landau, A-207742 (KIA) Brooklyn, NY
Passenger Sgt Belle G. Naimer, A-116702 (KIA) New York, NY
Passenger Cpl Melvyn A. Weber, 19180552 (KIA) Compton, CA
Passenger Pfc Alethia M. Fair, A-920130 (KIA) CA
Passenger Sgt Helen G. Kent, A-902290 (KIA) Taft, CA
Passenger Tec3 Marion W. McMonagle, A-311096 (KIA) Philadelphia, PA
Passenger Pfc Eleanor Hanna, A-311558 (died May 14, 1945) Montoursville, PA
Passenger  SSgt Laura Besley, A-306040 (died May 15, 1945) Shippenville, PA …

“Aircraft History. Built by Douglas. Assigned to the 5^th Air Force, 317^th Troop Carrier Group, 39^th Troop Carrier Squadron. Call Sign VH-CHG. Noes Number 13. Nicknamed “Gremlin Special / Guinea Gopher”. MACR lists nickname as “Merle”. When lost, engines 1830-92 serial numbers CP350692 and 350967.

“Mission History. Took off from Sentai Drome near Hollandia [West New Guinea] on a sight- seeing trip with five crew and 19 passengers (including 8 women) led by Col. Peter Peterson to view the Hidden Valley / Shangri-La (Balim) between Hollandia and Merauke [Dutch East Indies]. Unable to find the location initially, the plane circled, then went lower for a closer look. The C-47 was caught in a downdraft, and crashed, with only five surviving who were in the rear of the plane. Two of the survivors (Pfc Eleanor Hanna and SSgt Laura Besley) died the following two day from their wounds. The three remaining survivors set off on foot towards the hidden valley but collapsed.

“Rescue Mission. Twenty-four aircraft from Hollandia searched for the lost plane. Spotted from the air, two paratrooper Filipino Regiment medics jumped to tend to their wounds twice a day for more than a month.

“Plans were made to rescue them from the valley, by dropping paratroopers in to prepare a landing strip. Another group went to the wreck and buried the 19 crew members, laying 19 crosses and 1 star of David at the site. It took several weeks to clear the landing strip.

“On June 28, 1945 a C-46, towing a CG-4 Glider arrived, dropped the glider that was setup with its tow cable on two posts. C-46 swooped low and snagged the line, with the three survivors aboard and medics. It took a total of 47 days to rescue them.

“Memorials. Those killed in the crash were buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery during 1959 in a group burial at section 70 site 16187-89. Good is buried at Arlington National Cemetery at section 11 site 84 LH….

References
Readers Digest “A WAC in Shangri-La” by Cpl Margaret Hastings with Inez Robb, Nov 1945
The Forgotten Fifth by Michael Claringbould profiles this loss
Lost In Shangri-La website by Mitchell Zuckoff.” (PacificWrecks.com. “C-47A-35-DL ‘Gremlin Special/Guinea Gopher’ Serial No. 42-23952.”)

Socrata: “05/13/1945…15:00…Douglas C-47B-D…43-49788…Crashed into mountains.” (Socrata, the Open Data Co. Airplane_Crashes_and_Fatalities_Since_1908(1).)

Newspaper

June 29, Associated Press: “Hollandia, New Guinea, June 29 (Delayed) (AP) – A hazel-eyed WAC and two airmen companions were snatched sensationally to safety over 10,000-foot mountains by a glider and tow-plane in 80 minutes yesterday. They had been marooned 47 days in a lost valley accessible only by parachute.

“Rescuers Must Be Rescued.

“Today, the same glider-transport combination will attempt to remove an American army captain, movie cameraman and eight Filipino troopers who parachuted to the aid of the castaways and built the airstrip that made their release possible.

“At least two trips will be necessary, and the WAC, Corp. Margaret Hastings, 30, of Oswego, N. Y., gamely declared she’d like to go back and watch the rescue of her rescuers from the valley 150 miles southwest of here….

“Corp. Hastings, Lieut. John B. McCollom of Trenton, Mo., and Sergt. Kenneth Decker of Kelso, Wash., were the only survivors of a plane crash that killed 20 army personnel on the Oranje mountain wall of the valley May 13.

“They had been on an aerial sightseeing tour of the strange area which has been dubbed ‘Shangra-La’ after the James Hilton book on a Tibetan Utopia. Suddenly they found themselves – like the characters in the book – trapped in a place from which there was no apparent escape.

“At headquarters here today they told their story. Dazed and bleeding, they found themselves on the slope near the burning plane. Two other fellow passengers were alive. McCollom gave them morphine to ease the pain of their wounds, but both died within 24 hours. Among the dead was McCollom’s twin brother.

“At night they shivered under a collapsed life raft in the rain, and helplessly watched the flares of searching planes. They ate hard candy until they were sick of it.

“Four days after the crash a flier spotted the yellow raft and soon food, clothing and medicine were parachuted to them. Two Filipino medical aid men arrived by parachute and attended to their comparatively minor injuries. A walkie-talkie radio was dropped.

“Capt. Cecil Walters of Portland, Ore., and the Filipino parachute troopers came in and began hacking out a glider-landing strip. Movie Cameraman Alexander Cann of Sydney, N.S., came to record the scene.

“While the glider strip was being built, rehearsals were held near here in picking up a glider with a transport plane and a nylon cable. Accidents and injuries to crewmen tempted Col. Ray T. Elsmore of Menlo Park, Calif., cargo chief of the far eastern air force, to drop a bulldozer to made a regular plane field in the valley.

“But yesterday dawned fair, and it was decided to try with the glider. Capt. Charles J. Scholl of Seattle and his co-pilot, Capt. George Allen of Salem, Ore., dropped the glider ‘Fanless Faggot,’ piloted by Lieut. Henry E. Paver of Baton Rouge, La.

“The WAC, the two airmen and two of the Filipinos got aboard the glider and the cable was made ready on poles. Then another C-47 transport, with Maj. W. S. Samuels of Oakland, Calif., as pilot and Capt. William McKenzie of La Crosse, Wis., as co-pilot, skimmed across the valley at 20-foot altitude. The gook caught, there was a jerk, the glider was airborne. There followed the flight for altitude to get over the 10,000-foot peaks, then the easy ‘downhill pull’ to Hollandia….

“The natives, they said, were dark-skinned people averaging about five feet, even inches in height, and awed at the sight of the white persons they never had seen before. We weren’t afraid after the first encounter with them,’ said McCollom. They carried spears and bows and arrows, but from the way they looked at us from behind trees, we knew they were more afraid of us than we were of them.’ The natives proved to be good farmers and hog breeders. The peculiar 100-foot watch towers that airmen had seen in the valley turned out to be vantage points for keeping the pigs out of the yams. In the thatched huts there were no cooking utensils. Stones served as plates and fingers in lieu of forks. Yet the natives generously offered their visitors roast pork and yams.” (Lowell Sun, MA. “WAC, Airmen Saved From Jungle Shangri-La.” 6-30-1945, 1.)

Sources

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1945, p. 82. USAAF Douglas C-47B-30-DK crash, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, 13 May 1945. Accessed 12-5-1945 at: https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19450513-1

Baugher, Joseph F. Recent Updates to List of USAF Serial Numbers. 1-21-2012 revision. Accessed 3-15-2012 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/recentusafupdates.html

Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. UK and Newbury Park, CA: Patrick Stephens Limited, an imprint of Hayes Publishing, 1999.

Lowell Sun, MA. “WAC, Airmen Saved From Jungle Shangri-La.” 6-30-1945, 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=15175809

PacificWrecks.com. “C-47A-35-DL ‘Gremlin Special/Guinea Gopher’ Serial No. 42-23952.” Accessed 3-15-2012 at: http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/c-47/42-23952.html

Socrata, the Open Data Co. Airplane_Crashes_and_Fatalities_Since_1908(1). http://www.socrata.com/

Wikipedia. “1945 New Guinea Gremlin Special rescue.” 1-20-2012 modification. Accessed 3-15-2012 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_New_Guinea_Gremlin_Special_rescue

[1] Cites Baugher as source, though Baugher notes 21 fatalities.

1945 — May 13, USAAF “Shangra-La” sightseeing downdraft plane crash, mt., New Guinea–21