At 07:15 on 4 June his PBY-5 was again airborne; he reported that the aircraft was being "opposed by two enemy observation planes." That proved to be the last word heard from Whitman's aircraft, as the Japanese planes shot it down in flames. Records of what happened later are sketchy, but it appears that about half of the plane's crew was lost; six survivors, including the badly wounded Ensign Jack H. Camp, USNR, were picked up by a search PBY on 6 June.