C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-T-I-A-L
December 1- Ensign ORRIS, flying Dumbo cover for an Army strike at Negros Island in the Philippines, landed at sea under unfavorable conditions and picked up seven survivors of a B-24 of the 594th Squadron of the 5th Bomber Group returning them to Morotai.
December 3- Lieutenant (jg) LEVY strafed three enemy barges at 04-58N 118-57E with unobserved results.
December 6 - Commander GILLETTE led a flight of three planes on a mission to attack shipping in the harbor at Balikpapan, Borneo, a flight of 800 miles. In spite of unfavorable weather all three planes reached the Borneo coast in the vicinity of Balikpapan but were unable to complete their attack due to local conditions in the target area. The well-known durability of the PBY was convincingly demonstrated on this flight. While negotiating a mountain pass in the Celebes under instrument conditions, Lieutenant TURNER felt his starboard wing strike a hard but yielding object throwing the plane into a left wing down position. Putting the plane into a steep climbing attitude Lieutenent TURNER fought for altitude but it was more than two minutes before his radio altimeter registered more than 50 feet. At this point he was 500 miles from his objective but he went on to carry out his mission and then negotiate the 800-mile return trip to base. Subsequent examination of the plane revealed a damaged wingtip float and starboard running light as well as two deep indentations in the leading edge of the starboard wing well outboard and several rips in the fabric on the under side. Several sizeable wood fragments were found wedged in the leading edge of the wing and near the wing tip float.
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