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 04 MARCH 1945 - First Lieutenant Frank "Raunchy" Rauschkolb, pilot of
"Playmate Four Two", departed Morotai
at 0515, on a mission to cover a B-25 strike on Zamboanga. He arrived at Malanipa Island,
his orbit point, at 0930. Immediately upon arrival at his destination, he received a radio
message that B-25's had been shot down off the target. The air was filled with distress
calls and directions to the survivors. Lieutenant Rauschkolb headed for the target and
sighted a crew down in the water about one mile of shore. As he was circling to land near
the raft, Lieutenant Rauschkolb observed several Jap barges firing at him. He called for
the B-25's to strafe the barges and keep them off until he could effect the rescue of the
surviving crew. He landed and taxied to the raft through a hail of machine gun and mortar
fire and took five members of the crew aboard, the sixth having gone down with the ship.
Except for minor bruises, none were seriously hurt. The Catalina then taxied toward the
second crew down on a reef 500 yards off shore. As Lieutenant Rauschkolb approached the
crew, shore batteries opened up on the rescue plane but he continued on and took the six
survivors aboard. During the taxiing one of the engines was shut down for fifteen minutes
due to overheating. As soon as the survivors were aboard, Lieutenant Rauschkolb taxied
through the coral reef toward the open sea, out of gun range of the Japs. The sea provided
to be too rough for take-off, so Lieutenant Rauschkolb elected to taxi the 15 miles to the
other crew, which was down just off Malanipa Island near the Southern tip of Zamboanga
Peninsula.
 The rescue ship was guided to the
third surviving crew by two B-25's. Water was leaking into the ship thru flare tubes in
the tunnel hatch, flooding the rear compartment. The crew members and survivors bailed
vigorously to keep the water down. At 1130, the third crew was sighted and taken aboard.
The ship proved to be overloaded so Lieutenant Rauschkolb jettisoned 400 gallons of fuel
and began his take-off run with 25 men aboard and a badly leaking hull. The ship was
airborne at 1140 and headed for home. The two circling B-25's dipped their wings and
likewise headed for home. The rescue ship arrived at Morotai at 1645, where the survivors
were transferred to the 155th Station Hospital.
The survival of 17 out of 18
crewmembers is a tribute to the training of the B-25 crews in ditching procedures. The
crewmember who was lost had left the ship and appeared to be unhurt. However, he suddenly
disappeared below the waves. Presumably, he was killed by enemy fire from shore as he was
floating in the water. Lieutenant Rauschkolb displayed the highest courage and skill in
effecting the rescue of these three crews, fulfilling the highest traditions of the rescue
service.
The survivors stated that they were
on a low level bombing and strafing mission on Zamboanga and adjacent military objectives.
They had been over the target on previous occasions and had encountered very little
anti-aircraft fire, but this time the anti-aircraft fire was intense and accurate,
shooting down three planes and hitting several others. They were fortunate to escape being
injured or wounded.
The survivors, members of the 42nd Bomb Group were
as follows:
Crew #1:
2LT
W.H. Clampit, 2Lt Russel M. Brown, 2Lt R.D. Johnson, Sgt R.E. Fain, and Sgt J.
Busalacclai
Crew #2:
1Lt Ely Sherl, 2LT H.W. Paitt, 2Lt C.M. Christianson, T/Sgt N.W.
Anderson, S/Sgt A.G. Lewis, and CPL W.C. Myan,
75th
Bomb Squadron.
Crew #3:
2Lt E.G. Bearman, 1Lt J.A. Ballard, 2Lt Thomas
Cockrell, T/Sgt Stephen J. Deak,
T/Sgt E.A. Matthews, and Cpl A.N. Tyler, 390th Bomb Squadron.
(see a photo of this crew in front
of the rescue ship!)
Read
the story as told by T/Sgt Ed
Matthews!
Lieutenant Frank Rauschkolb received
the
Distinguished
Service Cross for this mission.
AIRCRAFT:
OA-10A*
USAAF SERNO:
44-33885 (CV-342)**
CALLSIGN:
"Playmate
Four Two"
CREW:
(Pilot) 1Lt Frank Rauschkolb, (Co-Pilot)
Cpt Willis L. Helmantoler, (Navigator)
1Lt John M. Reeves, (Engineer) T/Sgt Robert S. Jones, (Radio) S/Sgt Clarence E. Friestad, (AR) Pfc
Robert W. Logan, (V) S/Sgt James B. Standridge, Jr., (Flight
Surgeon) Cpt Nicholas E. Bailey
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*
Aircraft produced at Canadian Vickers Ldt, Cartierville, Quebec, Canada
** Canadian Vickers
contract number that was unique to each aircraft produced by at Cartierville
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