U.S. Army pilot Franklin H. McKinney was last seen on Nov. 5, 1944
Credit: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
NEED TO KNOW
- A pilot who went missing in 1944 during World War II has been found
- The remains of 1st Lt. Franklin H. McKinney were accounted for on May 15, 2026
- The Rhode Island resident was 21 years old when his airplane went down in Southeast Asia, and was recovered more than 80 years later
The remains of a U.S. pilot who went missing during a World War II mission have been found, more than 80 years after his plane went down in Southeast Asia.
U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Franklin H. McKinney of Rhode Island was just 21 years old when his F5E-2-LO Lightning aircraft failed to return from a reconnaissance mission from Yunnanyi, China, to targets in Thailand and Burma on Nov. 5, 1944, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said in a Wednesday, July 1 press release. His remains were accounted for on May 15, the release notes.
His squadron, nicknamed the "Redhawks," was known for daring spy missions, CBS News reported.
On June 28, the U.S. embassy in Thailand published photos of the repatriation ceremony, adding, "Thank you to the Royal Thai Government, local Lampang officials, and the archaeologists and students from Thammasat University, who worked side-by-side with DPAA and the UCLA partnership team to bring 1st Lt McKinney home to his family."
“No contact was made with the aircraft after it left base,” the DPAA said of his plane. The military declared McKinney dead in March 1946, although no crash site had been identified, reports CNN.
“American Graves Registration Service personnel searched along his flight path up to the Chinese-Thai border, but found no evidence of a crash,” the press release added.
After decades of research, it was discovered that McKinney's plane was hit by lightning, exploded, and crashed in a wooded area in Ban Mae Kua, Sop Prap District, Lampang Province, Thailand, the DPAA said, citing a wartime report from the Royal Thai Air Force Museum.
Third-party researchers came across a crash site believed to be McKinney's in a rice paddy field in Lampang Province in 2018, per the agency.
Teams investigated the area for years before finding the possible human remains in 2022 and sending them off for forensic testing.
“This excavation was conducted like an archaeological dig, stripping the topsoil layer by layer, and taking the dirt to be sifted through screens with water sprayed on it to find anything useful — aircraft components, personal effects, bone fragments, or anything that could lead to identifying the missing pilot,” Sakpinit Promthep, former head of the Royal Thai Air Force Museum, previously said of the find, per CNN.
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McKinney is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines, per the DPAA. Once a service member's remains have been recovered, identified or accounted for, a small bronze rosette is placed beside their name.
There are more than 36,000 service members who were lost or buried at sea who are featured at the site.
McKinney will be laid to rest with full military honors, CBS News added.
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