The above photo was cropped from a photo of P-46 & P-57 flying in formation. Note - 9 bombing missions are indicated.

Typically, a crew would fly about every 2-3 days but on the days a crew wasn't flying a mission it didn't necessarily mean their plane wasn't flying a mission.

Crew 46 ditched on their 9th mission - so it is very likely that the original photo of P-46 & P-57 was taken 29 May 1945 on the way to their target: Yokohama. Which means this is the last photograph Crew 46 and their plane.

Or was there another crew that was assigned to become "46" - thus Replacement Crew 46? So far no contact has been made with any crews indicating they became Replacement Crew 46 ... but we do know that two months later Crew 42 collided with a 29th BG plane ... and a replacement crew coming in (James Frey Crew) was assigned as Crew 42 ...(June 2005)