Rochester NY pilot and Biden relative still missing from WWII

Lina PortmanMay 27, 2024

0 4 minutes read

In May 1944, “Barry's Baby INS”, an American light bomber used for low-flying missions, crashed in the Pacific Ocean.

This May 14, 1944 accident, which just commemorated its 80th anniversary, recently returned to the news as President Joseph Biden remembered his uncle, who was among those still missing from the mission. But little is known about another of the missing, pilot Lieutenant Harold Prince, originally from Rochester.

“You could write a little book about some of the pilots,” said Edward Rogers, who wrote stories about the air campaigns of World War II. “Harold Prince, he flew many combat missions, but there is not much information about him.”

What is known is information largely compiled by Rogers and the nonprofit Pacific Wrecks, which distributes information about the Pacific campaigns during World War II and the Korean War. Its founder, Justin Taylan, began the search for Prince's plane, a Douglass Aircraft A-20G, as well as others missing during the wars.

“We have been in contact with all the families (lost during the mission) except Prince's,” Taylan said in a WhatsApp phone conversation this month from New Guinea. where he and others were about to launch the search for another lost plane. during WWII. (A few days after the interview, Taylan and his crew discovered what appears to be the wreckage of the lost plane, a Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter.)

Contrasting his family's military service with that of former President Donald Trump, Biden recently spoke about his missing uncle. Biden suggested his uncle, Ambrose Finnegan, might have been eaten by cannibals in New Guinea after the plane went down – there was never any such evidence – and his remarks sparked backlash from the Pacific nation.

“I think it's important to point out that in addition to President Biden's connection to this plane, three other families are also connected, everyday people like you and me,” Taylan said. “It’s a shame that this has been politicized.”

Biden has spoken about his uncle several times, Taylan said, “as a senator, vice president and now president.”

If the remains were ever found, Biden's DNA could be used for identification, Taylan said.

Letter from MacArthur

The June 14, 1944 article in the Democrat and Chronicle about the missing bomber pilot was brief.

“First Lt. Harold R. Prince, 23, was killed in action on May 14 while returning home from a personal mission for General MacArthur, according to a letter the general wrote to the parents of the “Officer, Mr. and Mrs. William S. Carr, of Santa Monica, Calif., formerly of Rochester,” the first paragraph of the story reads.

According to the Democrat and Chronicle article, Prince flew more than 70 combat missions. Many of them were “low-altitude bombing and strafing missions, between 20 and 150 feet off the ground, which is very low and carries its own risks,” Rogers said.

However, his plane crashed during a more mundane trip, in what was considered an “administrative flight” to NazDab airfield in New Guinea. Also on board were gunner Ashford H. Cardwell and engineer Anthony Zulkus. Both were technical sergeants.

“Weather was reported to be good on the route of the flight,” the Pacific Wrecks history reports. “Forty minutes into the flight, this A-20 attempted to ditch in the sea, but both engines failed at about 30 feet altitude and pitched down with a violent impact.”

Zulkus survived, rescued by a passing barge.

Prince was nearing the end of his military struggle.

“Certainly Harold Prince, if he had survived that mission, he would have been sent home within the month,” said Rogers, who plans to include the story of the accident in his forthcoming second book about the History of the 3rd Bombardment Group. Prince flew with the group, nicknamed “The Grim Reapers.”

Trying to find 'Barry's Baby INS'

A graduate of John Marshall High School, Prince worked in the chemical field at Eastman Kodak Co. after graduation. He enlisted in 1939, took pilot training and joined the Air Corps, a combat appendage of the Army.

Letters in his military file show that his father abandoned the family when Prince was very young, according to correspondence from his mother, in which she asked the military to send her Prince's personal items. His mother later remarried.

Rogers, Taylan and others have gathered information, including correspondence from Prince's mother, and Taylan continues to try to find the remains of the wreck in the depths of the waters off New Guinea.

“This is a case we have been investigating for years,” Taylan said. “Last year we led an expedition to search for this plane.”

This search was supported by Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest, who, like Biden, has a missing uncle. Forrest provided high-tech unmanned equipment for the search, and the results are still being scrutinized in the hope that pieces of wreckage can be spotted during the underwater surveys that have been conducted.

“With his help, this process became even more focused and we gained access to perhaps the best tools money can buy to conduct an underwater investigation,” Taylan said. “It's very difficult to find a plane underwater. It probably broke up on impact.”

The plane's name may seem unusual, but there's probably a reason for it, Taylan said.

Planes were sometimes named in the hope that they would be noticed, or sometimes with jokes from the crew. Barry Faris headed the International News Service, or INS, and the bomber's nickname may have been an attempt to get his attention.

If so, it worked. There's a photo of Prince and the crew next to “Barry's Baby INS”, with Prince shaking Ferris' hand.

It's a joyful moment, a photo taken in April 1944, with Prince likely knowing he would have few, if any, combat missions in his future. A recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and other military honors for his service, Prince was very close to returning to Rochester and engaged; he was engaged.

Lina Portman

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