57 Days

ENS Ned Brown 10 September 1923 - 7 July 1945

Ned Brown is a relative of mine. He has a grave marker in the Lehi Utah city cemetery, but a marker is all that is there. Ned enlisted in the Navy reserve at a young age. My father noticed the grave marker among the family plots many years ago. He was curious about Ned seeing how he was an ensign at such a young age.

I wish I had more detailed backstory to fill in the early life of Ned. But sadly, that is still a large blank. I have known about Ned for the better part of the last 10 years. Being a history nut I was very intrigued by his story. Ned was a navigator on a PB4Y-2 a rather interesting aircraft. It was a modified version of the B24 Liberator used by the Navy.

Only 739 Privateers were ever built. This makes them an unlikely aircraft to find in a museum. There are only six full airframes remaining on display. There is a partial airframe (nose only) on display in New Orleans. The closest airframes on display are in California, Arizona and Colorado. Not impossible to find, but none of them are a day trip.

Back to Ned for a bit. Ned was off the coast of Japan on July 7th 1945 flying a routine mission. Ge was in a flight of two privateers that were flying about 150 - 250' off the ocean's surface. At approximately 8:10 AM they spotted two Rex float planes flying at 1,200'. The float planes dove on the Privateers attacking them. A top turret gunner took out one of the attacking aircraft. The other one was reported to be visibly smoking as it peeled off and headed for home.

Ned's Privateer likely suffered damage to the hydraulic system during that encounter. The Privateers turned to base and started to head home. At 9:01 AM they spotted a Japanese naval vessel, Sub Chaser No. 168. Ned's aircraft led the attack on the vessel. They went in guns blazing, but bomb bay doors closed. This was likely due to the damaged hydraulic system

The Sub Chaser opened fire on the pair of Privateers. The #2 engine took damage and was visibly smoking. The gunners on Ned's aircraft strafed the Sub Chaser. They made it about a half mile before the plunged into the sea. The other Privateer dropped its bombs. The Sub Chaser appeared to be heavily damaged and was seen to be listing.

The remaining Privateer circled the crash site of Ned's aircraft and noted that 5 of the crew were alive. They dropped a life raft to them. They came in for a second run and noted that the surviving crew had gotten to the raft. They came under fire from shore batteries and had to evade the incoming fire and head for the home base.

Ned was not among the surviving crew members. He was lost at sea and his remains have never been recovered. For a more in depth report, take a look at this link. Ned was only 21 years old when he was killed in action. This sadly took place just 57 days before the surrender of Japan and the end of the war. I had not thought much about Ned recently. However, a few weeks ago while scrolling through Instagram I observed an advertisement for the upcoming Wings and Wheels airshow in Spanish Fork. It was talking about the PB4Y-2 Privateer flying in for the show!? Somehow I missed that the last flying Privateer is located in Arizona. I knew that I had to go to this show and finally get a look at a real Privateer.

Ned was a navigator on the Privateer. The window pictured above Jackie and I is for the navigator station. The chair she is sitting in is the navigators chair. To see this aircraft in person was truly shocking. It is truly massive. Before take off, they centered the props on the left wing to allow enough room for the Dodge 3,500 with a dump bed that pulled them to the runway could drive between the props and off the runway. Getting to see this aircraft in person truly put into perspective of Ned's story. It was humbling to finally see one of these aircraft and really picture what he experienced. Thanks for reading about Ned Brown and coming on this adventure with me. Bishop :(: