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- On This Date: Hurricane Hunter Mission Lost In Philippines Typhoon</p>
<p>Jonathan ErdmanOctober 1, 2025 at 5:00 AM</p>
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<p>We may take for granted the vital data provided by Hurricane Hunter aircraft flights into the teeth of hurricanes and tropical storms. In the early days, coming back alive wasn't a guarantee.</p>
<p>On Oct. 1, 1945, 80 years ago today, a U.S. Navy mission investigating a Category 1 Western Pacific typhoon went down over the South China Sea. Pilot Lt. Ralph Cook and six members of Crew No. 34 were killed.</p>
<p>The four-engine patrol bomber PB4Y-2 took off that morning from Clark Field, north of Manila, as the typhoon was between the Philippines and Taiwan.</p>
<p>After a report of flight-level winds of around 45 mph, visibility of 200 yards or less in heavy rain and slight turbulence, the crew was never heard from again.</p>
<p>After a week-long search by 40 different flights, the plane's wreckage was found on Batan Island, southeast of Taiwan.</p>
<p>This was the first Hurricane Hunter mission that didn't return. Over the next 29 years, another five missions would also not return, four of which were in Western Pacific typhoons. A total of 53 lives were lost in those six missions combined.</p>
<p>The only mission lost in the Atlantic Basin was on Sept. 26, 1955, when a Navy flight attempted to fly into Category 4 Hurricane Janet over the Caribbean Sea at an altitude of only 700 feet, thousands of feet lower than is recommended today for a storm of this intensity.</p>
<p>The U.S. ended typhoon reconnaissance flights in the Western Pacific Basin in 1987.</p>
<p>(MORE: Most Harrowing Flights In Hurricane Hunter History)</p>
<p>Navy recon crew lost October 1 1945</p>
<p>Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.</p>
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Source: "AOL General News"
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