US team in Arunachal searching WW-II plane

The wreckages was found by a local tour operator and an American investigator who were searching for the missing crew of planes that flew from India to China
Kolkata/Itanagar: A three-member team of the US Defence Department visited Arunachal Pradesh to investigate reports about the discovery of wreckage of US fighter planes which went missing during World War-II on the eastern front.
Hundreds of planes and pilots went missing in the China-Burma-India (CBI) war theatre during missions to maintain the supply from Ledo in Assam to Kunming in China, avoiding Japanese fighter planes.
The wreckages came to light when Oken Tayeng, a local tour operator, joined an American investigator Clayton Kuhles three years ago in his mission to ascertain the fate of the missing crew of planes that flew from India to China, but never reached their destination.
Tayeng had found the wreckage of a US fighter plane 'Hot as Hell' at Damora in East Siang district last year, which was one of the 'Missing in Action' planes.
He also collected a bracelet from a local person with the name 'Flight Engineer Arnold Starinoha' engraved on it.
He also located the wreckage of another plane on a hilltop near Itanagar missing since 1944.
Governor Gen (Retd) J J Singh, a former chief of army staff, took notes from Tayeng who spotted wreckage of aircraft of the Allied Forces in eight locations in Lohit, Dibang Valley, Upper Sinag and Papumpare districts.
The governor's interest in Tayeng apparently followed US Consul General Henry V Jardine's statement during a recent visit to the state that the US government might approach India to help locate the aircraft wreckage and remains of pilots in Arunachal Pradesh.
The three-member US team, Joint Prisoner of War (Missing in Action) Accounting Command (JPAC) under the US Department of Defence, would arrive here and leave for the US tomorrow, a JPAC statement said today.
"Our team is here to coordinate details of future investigations of sites possibly associated with missing American servicemen from World War II," it added.