The Pentagon has identified the remains of 1st Lt. James W. Blose, of Sharpsville, Pa., whose P-39D Airacobra disappeared April 22, 1942 after encountering bad weather soon after takeoff from Fiji on an airborne alert mission. He and fellow pilot 2nd Lt. William S. Shaw had to fly below the level of several mountaintops; Shaw successfully landed at another airfield, but Blose was never seen again. Ground searches of the surrounding jungles found nothing. In 2005, Joint POW/MIA Command personnel investigated wreckage spotted in 2004 and returned in 2006 to excavate, recovering human remains and some items that bore Blose’s initials.
In the wake of a major Chinese military shakeup, the head of U.S. Space Command warned of China’s “breathtakingly fast” advances in space during visits to Japan and South Korea. Gen. Stephen N. Whiting’s trip to the Indo-Pacific is his first overseas visit since taking command of SPACECOM in January.