Historical Background
During WW II, the US lost hundreds of aircraft in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater of operations. Although hostile fire from Japanese forces accounted for many of these aircraft losses, the vast majority of US aircraft were lost due to inhospitable weather, mechanical failure or navigational error.
The Aluminum Trail, published in 1989 by Chic Marrs Quinn, lists over 700 US aircraft lost in the CBI theater. The personnel losses were far in excess of this number, as most aircraft had multiple crewmembers and were often transporting passengers. The US Dept of Defense stated in 2004, that more than 500 US aircraft and 1,200 crewmembers and passengers remain missing in the CBI theater, with an estimated 416 Americans still missing in India alone. Nowhere in the CBI theater were the aircraft losses higher than on the notorious Hump route between US airbases in northeastern India and airfields in China. Many of these aircraft have never been found, and their crews and passengers have since been declared Administratively Dead, Unrecoverable or MIA. The CBI theater and its Hump route might have more MIA US airmen than any other WW II theater of operations.
I have taken on the project of searching for and recovering these MIA Americans. For practical reasons, the initial focus of the MIA recovery project is on finding and identifying the crashed aircraft. Once the found aircraft have been positively identified, a review of archival records will quickly determine everyone who was aboard the aircraft when it disappeared. Generally speaking, most of the crashsites that I reach have unrecovered crewmembers and often some passengers. It was very rare that the personnel had safely parachuted from the aircraft and survived the crash. Next, a detailed report is prepared and posted on this website along with relevant photos. A copy of my report is sent to the appropriate government agencies. Finally, I make every attempt to locate and notify the surviving family members of the personnel who were aboard the missing aircraft. Any human remains which I find at a crashsite are delivered to the US Dept of Defense for DNA matching and then repatriation to the families.
One Mans Search For Missing Airmen and Planes-PRESS ME