Frederick William Langhorst was born in 1921 in New York. He was the son of Frederick H Langhorst and Frieda Beckmann of Yonkers, Westchester County, New York. He married Alice Pirzl. Together, they had one daughter, Gail. He disappeared as the Co-pilot of C-109 #44-49628 on 17 July 1945. The aircraft departed Jorhat, India enroute to Chengtu, China. They had instrument clearance on the Able route. It was a routine Hump cargo flight hauling 100 octane aviation gasoline to the Chengtu area.

A position report was received as being over Pathalipam, India at 8,000 ft. There were no further radio contacts with this ship. Negative replies were received in answer to all queries sent. This aircraft disappeared somewhere on the Hump and was declared missing as of 17 July 1945. A concentrated search was conducted to no avail, and the search was abandoned as of 17 August 1945. In view of the complete absence of information, the cause of the accident remains undetermined. Langhorst and his crew were declared dead one year and one day later, and their remains were designated as “non-recoverable.”

The crash site was discovered in 2007. Some remains were discovered at that time and additional remains were recovered in 2009. In 2016, the remains were identified as those of 1LT Langhorst. His name is permanently inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, The Philippines. A rosette is placed next to his name on the Walls of the Missing to mark that he now rests in a gravesite. His current burial place is unknown but, Langhorst was returned with military honors to Battle Creek, Michigan, where his daughter lives in November 2016.

He was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is also commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China and ranked as a Second Lieutenant.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov