P-38 Incident in N. Africa during WW2

[PinecastleAAF]

I've become friends with a P-38 ace who lives across the street from a good friend. We were all having dinner recently and he told us about something that happened during the war.
He was in his tent one day and his crew chief came in asking if it was ok if he went with a ride in a P-38 with another pilot. It seems they removed some gear (radio?) behind the pilots seat to make room for a passenger. He told them wasn't going to approve it but wasn't going to deny the request either. Well they went off and never came back. He said he suspects they were shot down by a German fighter. I neglected to ask him if they found the wreckage. He still seemed bothered by it.

Anyone ever heard of this loss? Let me be clear I'm not trying to check up on his story I was just curious if there was anymore information about it.

[jet1]

I have a old friend who flew B-26 marauders including 2 missions on D-day. They were hopping across France occupying any old german field they could and at one base there was a p-38 that had suffered some engine problems. They got maintenance out and fixed it up then merrily took turns flying it----with nothing more than a pilots manual (and a little wine I think) anyway he was up next but the guy who had it out came back in and crash landed it (read didnt put the gear down) so my friend 'wild' Bill White never got his turn in a 38!

[John Dupre]

A little off topic but I did some research on a family friend who was lost during WW2. He was crew chief on a B25G and shot down over an island in Greece. The Germans had a pretty good day getting half of the four attacking aircraft, (one B 25 and one British Beaufighter which was discovered a couple of years ago intact on the bottom). Anyway, as I researched I noticed that one of the crew was not part of the same squadron as the rest. Turns out he was a replacement for a guy who came back from a pass too drunk to fly and was put on a punishment detail during the day of the flight. Imagine how he must have felt and how the rest of the squadron treated him afterward. One day I will try to see if he survived the war and what kind of life he had.