Individual Details

B-29 serial 42-6225 took off early December 31st 1944 from the forward base in China on a photo reconnaissance mission.
About two and a half hours out, at 31,000 feet, it was decided to turn back. A short time after this #3 engine presumably swallowed a valve and had to be feathered. The plane continued back without further incident until the field was reached at which time #2 engine caught on fire. The crew was ordered to bail out and did so from between 5000 and 3000 feet, all landing safely near the base.
Capt THOMAS evidently decided to attempt to bring the plane in despite poor visibility which may have been the determining factor in his failure to land safely 42-6225 crashed in the hills just south of A-1 in China killing the Pilot, Capt DORSEY B. THOMAS, who was the only occupant at the time of the crash, and resulting in the death of the Co-pilot, 1 st Lt ROBERT H. FITZPATRICK (both officers of the 25th Squadron) whose parachute evidently failed to open when he left the plane shortly before it struck the earth.
(Info provided by shootski)

Birth	30 NOV 1921
Death	31 DEC 1944	China
Burial		Riegelsville Union Cem., Riegelsville, Durham Twp., Bucks Co., PA

Father	Daniel J. FITZPATRICK (1883 - 1958)
Mother	Ellen Ingeborg SILVERSTRIM (1892 - 1974)