The whereabouts of a pilot who went missing during a World War II espionage mission have finally been revealed, according to an announcement from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) on Wednesday.
Authorities confirmed that 1st Lt. Franklin H. McKinney of the U.S. Army Air Forces, who was 21 and hailed from Rhode Island, was identified on May 15, 2026. McKinney was a member of the 35th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron (PRS) under the 14th Air Force.
Reports indicate that McKinney never made it back after launching from Yunnanyi, China, on a reconnaissance flight aimed at capturing images of targets in Thailand and Burma.
The U.S. Air Force highlighted that the squadron was tasked with conducting aerial surveillance operations, often venturing into enemy-controlled zones across China, Burma, and Thailand to collect essential intelligence.
An image of U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Franklin H. McKinney, who vanished during a surveillance mission in 1944 and whose remains were finally accounted for in 2026. (DPAA)
On Nov. 5, 1944, McKinney reportedly departed Yunnanyi, China, while piloting an F-5 Lightning.
The U.S. Air Force said his squadron, known as the “Redhawks,” played a crucial role in helping “turn the tide of the war in China” by providing vital aerial mapping and intelligence on Japanese troop movements.
However, the airbase lost contact with McKinney shortly after his departure.
Despite searches along his flight path to the China-Thailand border by personnel with the American Graves Registration Service, no evidence of a crash was found.
His remains were not accounted for after the war.
A Lockheed F-5A Lightning reconnaissance aircraft, part of the F-5 Lightning family, is photographed in 1943. (Corbis via Getty Images)
Around the same time, local officials in Thailand discovered what appeared to be the wreckage of an aircraft that had been struck by lightning in a wooded area, according to DPAA.
Citing a wartime report from the Royal Thai Air Force Museum, the agency said the aircraft exploded before crashing near Ban Mae Kua in the Sop Prap district of Lampang province.
In 2018, third-party researchers located a crash site in a rice paddy of Lampang province and linked it to McKinney’s aircraft.
DPAA investigators then examined the site in 2019 and again in 2021 before a recovery team excavated the area in 2022, recovering possible human remains.
The remains were sent to a DPAA laboratory, where scientists used modern forensic techniques to identify McKinney.
A WWII F-5 Lightning aircraft was discovered in a rice paddy field in Thailand. (Chaiwat Subprasom/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Officials said McKinney’s family will be briefed on the findings.
His name will also be memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.