A pilot who disappeared during a World War II spy mission has been accounted for, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced Wednesday.Officials said U.S.Army Air Forces 1st Lt.
Franklin H.McKinney, 21, of Rhode Island, was accounted for on May 15, 2026.
He served as an airman with the 35th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron (PRS), 14th Air Force.McKinney reportedly failed to return after departing from Yunnanyi, China, on a reconnaissance mission to photograph targets in Thailand and Burma.SIX AMERICAN HEROES EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW THIS MEMORIAL DAY, FROM DELTA FORCE TO A WWII BOMBER CREWThe U.S.Air Force indicated that the squadron carried out aerial espionage missions, flying deep into Japanese-controlled territory across China, Burma and Thailand to gather critical intelligence.A portrait of U.S.
Army Air Forces 1st Lt.Franklin H.
McKinney, who disappeared during a World War II reconnaissance mission in 1944 and was accounted for in 2026.(DPAA)On Nov.
5, 1944, McKinney reportedly departed Yunnanyi, China, while piloting an F-5 Lightning.The U.S.Air Force said his squadron, known as the "Redhawks," played a crucial role in helping "turn the tide of the war in China" by providing vital aerial mapping and intelligence on Japanese troop movements.‘NOBODY SHOULD GO ALONE’: 1,500 STRANGERS HONOR WWII VETERAN WITH NO KNOWN FAMILYHowever, the airbase lost contact with McKinney shortly after his departure.Despite searches along his flight path to the China-Thailand border by personnel with the American Graves Registration Service, no evidence of a crash was found.His remains were not accounted for after the war.A Lockheed F-5A Lightning reconnaissance aircraft, part of the F-5 Lightning family, is photographed in 1943.
( CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)Around the same time, local officials in Thailand discovered what appeared to be the wreckage of an aircraft that had been struck by lightning in a wooded area, according to DPAA.Citing a wartime report from ...