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Ensign John Hamley, RIP
Exactly one week after Emperor
Hirohito announced the Japanese surrender ending WWII in the Pacific, Ensign
John M. Hamley was flying in a Hellcat F6F-5, BuNo 71312 over Oahu.
He was one of a two plane section airborne around noon on the 21st of August
1945. Ensign Hamley disappeared after entering a cloud bank. The
ensuing Search for him was unsuccessful. His aircraft and body weren't
found until over a month later on 9/26/45 . The wreckage was scattered in
pieces near Mt Ka'aumakua in the northern Ko'olau Range.
A HAPS survey was recently done of
the site in concert with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife work party on the Oahu
National Forest Refuge. Very little of the aircraft remains today and most
of the pieces are small and badly deformed from impact.
Click here for a copy of the
accident report
The photo gallery below
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General Site area
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Rope descent down to river
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Piece of cowling
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Crumpled skin
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Empennage piece
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Exterior skin
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Farthest piece down river
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another view of farthest piece
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Piece of tire
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Stainless and aluminum pieces
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Bent tailhook
Ogata collection |
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Waterfall and pool below impact area
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Waterfall below
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Wing bracing
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