 By the time the scattered Corsairs broke out of the first storm front nearly twenty minutes later they were already more than fifty miles (80 km) past Nanumea.In an attempt to find the Nanumea radio range beacon, Major MacLaughlin made two radical course changes that further broke apart the formation.Five pilots, Captain John Rogers, Lieutenants John Hansen, Don Walker, Robert Moran, Walter Wilson and Earl Thompson were missing.