KC93P-CK

William A. “Bill” Bentson  was assigned to Gen MacArthur’s Hdq in Australia and provided the following extraction about Colin Kelly from microfilm covering AF activities from Dec’41  to Aug ’42. Bill married an Australian girl and resides in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

 

Headquarters, 5th Bomber Command, Malang, Java, Feb 19, 1942

Subject: Narrative Report of Flight of Captain Colin P. Kelley, Air Corps, 0-20811 (deceased) on Dec 10, 1941

To:       Commanding General (Brereton) Far East Air Forces Bandeng, Java.

            The report of the flight of Capt Colin P. Kelley, Air Corps, 0-20811 in a B-17C airplane which took place on Dec 10, 1941, as well as other records of the 19th BG, were lost in the evacuation of the unit to the Bataan Peninsula. The following is a narrative report of that flight as reconstructed by interviewing the only survivor present in N.E.I. (Netherlands East Indies) 2nd Lt Joe Bean, Air Corps, navigator of the flight, and officers who talked to the crash survivors. On the morning of Dec 10, 1941, four B-17 airplanes were being prepared at Clark Field for a search-bombing mission to locate a Japanese aircraft carrier reported in the vicinity of Aparri, North Luzon, P.I.  At 0930 (PDST) and airraid alarm sounded. Having been instructed as to the mission the crew of Capt Kelly’s plane was ready to take off except only 3,600 pound bombs had been loaded. Remembering the destructive results of planes caught on the ground in the air raid, Captain Kelley as first pilot and airplane commander with the following crew aboard:

            CoPilot             2nd Lt   Donald D. Robins          0-401307

            Navigator         2nd Lt   Joe M. Bean                  asn unk

            Bombardier       Sgt       Meyer Levin                 6975479

            Gunner T/Sgt    William J. Delahanty    6753573

            Gunner S/Sgt    James E. Halkyard       6562934

            Gunner Pfc       Robert E. Altman          6972511

            Gunner Pfc.      Willard L. Money          6998768

took off individually and proceeded with the mission. As he passed near Aparri Bay many enemy vessels were noted including a large battleship of the Yamashimo class, six cruisers, ten destroyers, and from 15 to 20 various size transports. Continuing north broken clouds were encountered whit base at 6000 feet and tops around 1200 feet. Flying just below the base of the clouds, the search continued for the next half hour without the carrier being sighted. Capt Kelley decided to attack the battleship as a secondary target. He turned south toward Aparri from approximately 50 miles north of the coast. The broken clouds gave way to scattered clouds as he approached the coast. The battle ship was seen about 4 miles off shore and moving slowly parallel with the coast line. Approaching the target and getting set for the bomb run, anti aircraft from the warships, but  not from the battle ship, began to burst about the plane. The battleship did not maneuver which enabled the bombardier to make a good run. A quartering approach to the longitudinal axis of the ship was being flown. The three bombs were released in train as rapidly as the bombardier could get them away. The first bomb struck about 50 yards short, the next along side, and the third squarely amidship. The spotting of the bomb hits is shown in the sketch below.

            The effect produced by the explosion of the third bomb was to open the sides of the battleship, mor on the starboard side than on the portside. A great cloud of black smoke rose from the point of impact. The forward length of the ship was about 10 degrees off center to the portside. The battleship began weaving from side to side and headed toward shore. Large trails of oil followed in it’s wake. When last observed, as the plane continued south, the battleship seemed to be stopped or aground one mile from shore and the density of the smoke had increased.

            Flying south over Aparri, several enemy pursuit planes were seen taking off from the airdrome at Aparri. When approximately 15 miles north of Mount Aryat the plane was at an altitude of about 12,000 feet, just above the cloud tops. All gunners were at their gun stations except the radio operator (bottom turret gunner) who was working Clark Field for landing information. Capt Kelley was instructed by the control tower not to land as an air raid was expected. About this time the all clear sounded so the control tower cleared Capt Kelley in for a landing. The fire control officer Lt Bean, was observing through his commanders dome. No enemy pursuits were in sight. At this instant the plane was subject to a burst of machine fire.

            The first indication to Capt Kelley that the plane was under attack came when the commanders dome flew off and the instrument panel started to disintegrate. At the same time, and undoubtedly from the same bust of fire, T/Sgt Delehanty, the left rear gunner, was killed. The low pressure oxygen tanks in the radio compartment exploded (possibly caused by exploding shells, exploding when striking the fuel valves). One enemy pursuit plane zoomed up past the bomber. This pursuit was probably the one that opened fire from the rear and below. It is assumed that this plane and one other which was later observed making a diving approach on the rear of the B-17 had come up through the broken clouds below the B-17. The lower turret was not being manned at the time may explain why no one saw the pursuit before the attack. Immediately Capt Kelley put his craft in a steep dive at an angle of about 45 degrees. Smoke began pouring out of the bomb bay into the pilots compartment, and heat was becoming unbearable. It was apparent that the plane was seriously endangered by the fire, which was spreading through the radio compartment. Capt Kelley ordered the crew to bail out. Sgt Halkyard, Pvt Altman and Pvt Money who were in the rear compartment pulled the emergency handle for the rear door, which trough the door off, and all three jumped.

            The navigator, after the commanders dome had been knocked off, dropped down into the companion-way, leading to the navigators-bombardier compartment, where he attempted to release the escape hatch door by pulling the emergency release handle. The navigator then started back into the pilots compartment where he observed Capt Kelley and the co-pilot preparing to leave the plane. The compartment was filled with smoke. He the navigator then dropped back down  to the companionway where he proceeded to pound on the open escape hatch door. Driving it sufficiently open to slip through he left the airplane. As he did so the door fell free. The bombardier who had helped Lt Bean try to get the escape hatch door off tumbled out after him. Both chutes opened almost immediately.

            Lt Bean saw 4 opened chutes other than his own. One of the two attacking pursuit planes began machine gunning the parachutes and personnel. No hits on personnel, some hits through chutes. The other pursuit plane continued to fire on the bomber which was seen to explode in midair at an altitude of 7,000 feet. It seemed (Lt Bean) to break in two behind the bombbay. The wreckage then plummeted to earth. A P-40 took off from Clark Field toward the scene at which time the 2 Jap planes disappeared into the clouds. Lt Bean and the 4 enlisted men landed within a quarter of a mile of each other, approximately 5 miles north of Clark Field. He assembled them with the assumption that they were the only survivors. These five searched the surrounding terrain of can and rice fields for two hours without finding the wreckage or any other survivors. A passing Field Artillery car finally picked them up and took them back to Clark Field.

            As Capt Kelley and the copilot, Lt Robins, prepared to abandon the plane dense smoke filled the pilots compartment and the heat was intense. Suddenly the plane exploded. Lt Robins did not jump but was thrown clear of the wreckage by the force of the explosion. He pulled his rip cord and floated to safety although he was severely burned about the body face and arms. A reconnaissance car fro the nearby Field Artillery unit picked him up and took him to the station hospital at Fort Stotensberg.

            Upon arriving back at Clark Field, Lt Bean and four enlisted survivors were in a badly dazed and shocked condition. They related their experiences as best they could to members of the 19th group staff. Immediately a search party set out. The wreckage was found along a rural road 2 miles west of Mount Aryat (Mount Aryat is about 5 miles east of Clark Field). The tail assembly was missing. Parts such as ammunition cans were scattered over an area of 500 yards. The right wing with two engines still in place remained almost intact although it was burning when the searching party arrived. The fuselage and left side of the plane were badly wrecked and burned. T/Sgt Delehanty’s body was lying about 50 yards north of the wreckage. Capt Kelly’s body, badly mangled, was found very near the wreckage with his parachute unopened.

            It is not known exactly how Capt Kelly met his death. He may have been rendered unconscious by enemy action (Lt Bean having observed that the B-17 was attacked by the second enemy pursuit plane just before it exploded) he may have been killed as a result of the explosion, or he may have been struck by some part of the plane as he attempted to jump.

E. L. Eubank, Col Air Corps Commanding.

Maj Gen B. M. Giles (right) congratulates Mrs. Colin P. Kelly, widow of Capt Kelly.