CREW LISTS FOR THE RESCUE OF
GENERAL DOUGLAS MacARTHUR
AND HIS PARTY FROM THE PHILIPPINES
IN MARCH 1942

Two B-17 Flying Fortresses  took off from Batchelor airfield on 17 March 1942, piloted by Lt. Frank Bostrom and Captain William Lewis, Jr. The flight path to Del Monte, some 1,500 miles away, took them between two large Japanese airbases which were only 30 miles apart.

The two B-17's arrived at Del Monte at approximately midnight. The runway was lit with two flares (one at each end) to help them to land. The B-17 flown by Lt. Frank Bostrom, #41-2447, landed first followed by the B-17, #41-2429, flown by Captain William Lewis, Jr. 

Not long after midnight on 17 March 1942, St Patrick's Day, two B-17's taxied out onto Del Monte airfield, which was again lit by two flares. General Douglas MacArthur sat in the radio operator's seat in Frank Bostrom's aircraft. MacArthur's chief of staff, General Richard Sutherland, was squeezed into the bomb bay. Bostrom's overloaded B-17 Flying Fortress staggered into the air from Del Monte airfield with one engine spluttering. A large number of General MacArthur's staff returned to Australia in Capt. Lewis's aircraft.

Flying Fortress #41-2447
"San Antonio Rose II"

B-17E Flying Fortress #41-2429
"Why Don't We Do This More Often"

REFERENCE BOOKS

General Orders No. 37, Melbourne, Vic, April 5, 1942
Announcement of Awards of Distinguished Flying Cross

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This page first produced 16 April 2006

This page last updated 24 January 2020