HUMP crashsite and recovery in Tibet: January 1944

William,

I assume that this is crew that you are referring to. They were buried together at Arlington: "Beebe was from Minnesota. His former wife, Johanne J. Platzer, and niece, Cynthia Read, were among relatives attending the services."

World War II Aircrew Laid To Rest In Arlington National Cemetery

The above source contains a large number of searchable links that may be of use:

"Comments/Citation
Notes/Links:

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/tibet.htm

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/fplanier.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_C-87_Liberator_Express

http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/MACRmonthly/44JanMACR.htm

Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) 2138

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=101670

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1997-12-26/news/1997360001_1_ramos-stepanovich-c-87

http://www.comcar.org/Air%20Transport%20Command/air_transport_Command_aafbu.htm

http://www.cbi-history.com/part_ii.html http://www.cbi-history.com/part_viii.html (lineage)

http://www.aviationarcheology.org/src/dbmpilot.asp?Pilot=Lanier&Submit7=Go

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19440131-5"

The Missing Air Crew Report for the flight can be found here: Page 10 Missing Air Crew Reports, WWII - Fold3

Dear Mr. Jordon,

Thank you for posting your inquiry to the History Hub.

Starting in late May 1943, the Army Air Forces required that a Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) be filed when a crew was lost in combat. During the course of World War II some 16,700 such reports were filed. Most of the reports contain name, rank and service number of crew members; date, place and circumstances of loss; unit to which the crew was assigned; place of origin of the flight; and some details regarding the aircraft itself. Unfortunately, not all losses are documented. If the fate of the crew was established within a few days, a report often was not filed. If a plane was lost due to an accident, a report usually was not filed. And, because it was wartime, there occasionally were lapses in completing even required reports.

The Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland (Archives II) has three separate indexes to the Missing Air Crew Reports; they are arranged by plane tail number, by date of loss, and by last name of crew member. We searched the MACR date index for January 1944 and found three potential MACR numbers for C-87s in the region of the crash you are researching: MACR 2043 (which is a duplicate of MACR 2090) and MACR 2093. These reports have been digitized and are available on Fold3 and can be viewed free of charge from any National Archives research facility.

We also found this news article which seems to be describing the crash you are researching. The date of the crash is listed here as December 31, 1944, so we also searched the MACR index for this date, but we were unable to locate any reports for the type of plane and location you noted in your question.

If you have questions about the MACR files, you can contact the Textual Reference Branch at Archives II (archives2reference@nara.gov) directly. If you know the tail number of the plane and/or missing crew members names, they can search the other MACR indexes to see if a report exists on the crash.

Since they remains were relocated in the 1990s, there may be an U.S. Air Force Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) for them. For access to these, please contact HQ AFPC/DPWCS, Air Force Casualty Services, 550 C Street West, Suite 14, Randolph Air Force Base, TX 78150-4716.  The toll free number is (800) 433-0048. The web site is http://www.afpc.af.mil/library/casualty.asp.

Thank you, again, for sharing your question with the History Hub, and good luck with your ongoing research.