Second Lieutenant David Milton Coulter was in the Army Air Forces and was listed missing in action and later declared dead on January 15, 1946. His B29 Super Fortress went down off the coast of Saipan during the war. He was the son of Earle Dewey Coulter and Hettie Elmer Heninger Coulter of Knoxville. He was a student at the University of Tennessee.
MIA S.W. Pacific 1-14-1945
Boeing B-29-50-BW Superfortress serial # 42-24807
Service # 0-868794
870th Bomber Squadron, 497th Bomber Group, Very Heavy
Entered the Service from: Tennessee
Died: 14 January 1945. He was officially declared dead on 15 January 1946
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii
Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart
Excerpt from The B-29 Superfortress chronology, 1934-1960 by Robert A. Mann p.86:
“Jan. 14 XXI BC Mission Number 19, Hesitation 2- Target (#194): Mitsubishi Aircraft Factory, Nagoya. Forty planes of seventy-three up bombed the primary target and twenty-three bombed secondary targets. There were nineteen early returns. Time over primary 1540 to 1628, altitude 29, 080 to 32,000. Weather over target 4/10 alto cumulus and dense haze. Enemy air opposition moderate to heavy, 583 attacks. AA meager to moderate, accurate to inaccurate. Average bomb load 5,000lbs. Average fuel reserve 909 gallons. Four planes lost; two from 497BG, one 498 BG and one 499 BG.
On January 14, 1945 the crew lost an engine on a bomb run and could not feather the prop. The prop windmilled off and the B29 lost second engine. The crew radioed intention to ditch over the Southwest Pacific.”
Memorial Stone at Woodlawn Cemetery, Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee, USA
Crew members
Air Commander, Capt Harold F. Schramm
Co-Pilot, 2nd Lt Robert M. Wadsworth
Navigator, 2nd Lt Isaias Meza
Bombardier, 1st Lt John J. Berning
Flight Engineer, 2nd Lt David M. Coulter
CFC Operator-Gunner, S/Sgt Jesse J. Shanaway
Engineer-Gunner, Sgt Robert E. Rosecrans
Radio Operator-Gunner, S/Sgt Richard F. Miller
Elec. Spec. Gunner, Sgt Cleo E. Lamoureux
Radar Operator-Gunner, S/Sgt Alfred B. Pettibone
Tail Gunner, Sgt George G. Richters
- Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Date of birth: 6 March 1921
- Date of death: 14 January 1945
- County: Knox
- Hometown: Knoxville
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 870th Bomber Squadron, 497th Bomber Group, Very Heavy
- Theater: Pacific
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XIV, Bottom Panel
- Contact us to sponsor David M. Coulter
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