Press Release : 6/26/06

THE MIA MISSIONS OF 2006 and 2007.

Just returned from a perilous MIA search mission are nine Americans aged from 14-78. Each financed their participation in this mission whose objective was to find and identify an American WW.II bomber and its crew missing for over 62 years. MIA HUNTERS is the only US civilian MIA search organization now with nearly 60 MIA discoveries. It is based in Minnesota.

The nine Hunters would be the first white men to penetrate so far into the jungle of Papua New guinea in search of the lost bomber. They were not to know how life-threatening it would become. The Hunters were supported by 20 native porters and the chief of a village within walking distance of the reported crash site. These were friendly natives and the Hunters would be the first white men to visit their village deep in the jungle about 140 miles from town. But the Hunters had arrived in the middle of a conflict between their escort natives and a neighboring tribe who were hostile and whose territory they had to cross.

In over 90 degree heat, the Hunters had to cross several fast flowing rivers, walk for hours to reach a mountain then climb nearly vertically 4,000 feet on a 24 inch wet and slippery precipice for four hours to reach the top. Miraculously they did so without incident except for one Hunter who fell on a large python snake, rescued by natives and the snake dispatched with a machete.

The next day, five members of the group, guided by natives, found the crash site of the bomber later identified as an A-20, WW.II Havoc with a crew of three. It is MIA HUNTERS policy not to interfere with graves, so the group took photographs, plotted the bomber's site via GPS, removed small pieces of identity evidence and planted an American flag. All the evidence would later be mailed to the US Army's Recovery Unit in Hawaii who would send a recovery team to the site to excavate the remains of the crew, return them to Hawaii for forensic identification and eventually return the MIA's remains to their relatives.

Having found the bomber and mapped its location the mission was a success. There was however a problem. From the top of the mountain the Hunters had to again return to base via the territory of the hostile tribe who had planted a sign saying "Cross this line and you will be killed." The only option was to contact a helicopter rescue service. One of the Hunters had brought along a satellite telephone but there were no Yellow Pages on the top of the mountain to identify the rescue services number. So a call was placed to one of the Hunters wives in Minnesota who was asked to call Papua New Guinea to get the appropriate telephone numbers. 30 minutes later a return call generated the numbers and finally arrangements were made for a helicopter rescue which eventually came the next day.

SINCE THIS MISSION THERE HAVE BEEN MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS.

There are hundreds of still missing US aircraft from WW.II in the dense jungles of Papua New Guinea. None are easy to find and most are difficult to reach. For example on Sunday, April 16th 1944, the US Air Force lost 37 aircraft on that one day due to weather. Many are still missing. The Hunters therefore engaged local trackers over a period of months to search for these lost aircraft and their crews. Would it be possible to find even one of them became the pressing issue. And if it became possible, could another search mission by the Hunters reach the site, identify the aircraft and again direct the US Army to the crash site ? The results of these preliminary searches by the local trackers is awesome and can best be told by the plans for another mission in 2007.

THE 2007 SEARCH MISSION.

On July 26th 2006, news of another mission was released to the press and the public. Its headline was: THE BIGGEST DISCOVERY OF MIA'S SINCE WW.II ? The Search for American WW.II MIA's, now missing for over 60 years, and still totaling nearly 68,000, may result in an epic discovery next year. Next year's search is scheduled for May and June. In the last three months, native trackers working for the MIA HUNTERS have reported an awesome prospect - the discovery of not one or two new crash sites but ten more lost aircraft and their crews. Even if only half these reports are accurate, this would be potentially the largest discovery of lost aircraft and MIAs since then end of the last world war.

Today, special arrangements are being made in advance for friendly natives to act as guides and porters once each crash site is mapped for the search teams. The crash sites are being planned in pairs so that each group of Hunters, in a 14 day trip, can reach both sites and return to base. Despite the dangers in the jungle, Bryan and son Christopher Moon have led 19 missions and brought everyone home. Each mission group will consist of nine persons and it will take five overlapping missions to reach all ten aircraft sites. Each group will be led by a mission leader with previous experience in the Papua New Guinea jungle.

By late summer, those who express an interest will assemble for a more detailed briefing on the mission. Meanwhile advertisements to generate public interest are running which say:

ADVENTURERS WANTED.

Join MIA HUNTERS on historic Search Mission to discover more MIA's
than have been found since WW.II.
MIA HUNTERS native trackers have discovered 10 lost aircraft
crash sites all missing in jungle for over 60 years.

FINDING THESE LOST AIRCRAFT MEAN UP TO 100 MIA'S WILL BE COMING HOME
- THANKS TO YOU !

This Mission is not for everybody.

Duration 2 weeks. It is expensive. If interested contact MIA HUNTERS Please send us an Email if you would like more information and to be invited to the first briefing to bryanmoon@cvtel.net