In Search of Crosair

Navy divers are mounting an expedition to locate WWII crash sites and possible airmen’s remains off the coast of Papua New Guinea, for later recovery, Warbirds News reported. The team plans to use side-scan sonar equipment to locate several aircraft, including a B-24 Liberator bomber lost off Kawa Island, in an archipelago east of the mainland. “The sites are very remote and access to the dive sites is challenging,” said Navy Lt. Mark Snyder, who is? heading up the Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit undertaking the mission on behalf of DOD’s POW/MIA Accounting Agency. On Jan. 1, 1943, B-24D, serial number 41-23752, nicknamed “Crosair” took off from Port Moresby airfield on a mission to bomb a Japanese airfield on Vunakanau, near Rabaul. After hitting its target, the crew was forced to ditch due to engine failure. Eight crew were rescued by Australian forces, but tailgunner Sgt. Carol Domer was killed on impact and sank with the wreckage. “These types of missions are about supporting fallen/missing service members and their families and maintaining the precedence that the US is committed to bringing everyone home,” added Snyder. (See Pacific Wrecks’ page on Crosair’s complete history.)