*_ Photo of K-TRI-17 crash site taken by Fold3 Member: i_arai437 _*

Owen Orville Barnhart, Jr. born 27 July 1921 in Richmond, Contra Costa County, California to parents Owen Orville and Mary Etta (Hunt) Barnhart.

ENLISTED AS A PRIVATE (ASN: 19083346) IN THE U.S. ARMY AIR CORPS ON 12 MARCH 1942 AT SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

After Primary, Basic, and Advanced flight training, he was commissioned (ASN: O-735019) as a Second Lieutenant in the USAAF.

ASSIGNED TO THE CENTRAL PACIFIC THEATRE OF OPERATIONS, 20TH AIR FORCE, XXI BOMBER COMMAND, 313TH BOMB WING, 505TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP (VERY HEAVY), 483RD BOMB SQUADRON STATIONED AT NORTH FIELD ON TINIAN IN THE MARIANA ISLANDS.

ON 10 FEBRUARY 1945, HE FLEW IN THE LEFT SEAT AS THE AIRPLANE COMMAND PILOT ABOARD A BOEING B-29 SUPERFORTRESS NICKNAMED "DEANER BOY" (SERIAL #42-24815), tail code: K-Triangle-17, call sign: Victor-12.

THE "DEANER BOY" WAS ONE OF 118 AIRCRAFT IN A FORMATION TO BOMBARD THE NAKAJIMA AIRCRAFT PLANT AT OTA, JAPAN.

After a flight of approximately seven hours and some 1,200 nautical miles, his aircraft reached their check-point above Mount Fuji on the main island of Honshu, and began their bomb-run northeast towards the Tokyo area.

WHILE OVER THE TARGET AT AN ALTITUDE OF 28,000 FEET HIS AIRCRAFT SUFFERED A MID-AIR COLLISION WITH ANOTHER B-29 BOMBER, RESULTING IN THE LOSS OF BOTH AIRCRAFT AND AIRCREWS.

B29-#42-24815 | Missing-Air-Crew-Research-Japan-Network (macrj.net)

Owen O Barnhart Jr