20th Century

1944 — Sep 14, passenger train & mail train collide head-on in heavy fog, Terre Haute, IN–29

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-27-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

 –29  Bennett.  The Tribune-Star (Terre Haute, IN).  2007.

–29  Linton Daily Citizen, IN. “All C.&E.I. Train Wreck Victims…Identified…” 9-15-1944, p.1.

–29  McCormick. “Train wreck kills 29 – 60 years ago.” Terre Haute Tribune Star. 6-27-2004.

Narrative Information

McCormick: “It was the most deadly disaster in Vigo County history, claiming the lives of 29 people. Two speeding Chicago & Eastern Illinois trains collided head-on in a dense fog at 2:20 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 14, 1944, a few hundred yards north of Haythorne Avenue near the Terre Haute city limits. On board the southbound Dixie Flyer – consisting of two baggage cars, seven Pullman sleepers, five coaches and the locomotive – were 600 passengers, including 75 members of the 12th and 15th Army Air Force en route to Miami, Fla., from Fort Sheridan, Ill.

 

“All 26 soldiers who were killed were veterans of overseas service, many highly decorated….

 

“The impact propelled a Dixie Flyer baggage car into a sleeper occupied by the 39 servicemen, crushing it ‘like a matchbox’ and shearing off the roof and one side. Soldiers were pinned to their seats and crushed in the twisted wreckage….

 

“The wreck occurred about five miles south of Atherton, where the two trains were supposed to pass each other. According to initial reports, the Dixie Flyer missed the passing point because of fog….” (McCormick, Mike. “Train wreck kills 29 – 60 years ago.” Terre Haute Tribune Star. 6-27-2004.)

Newspapers at the Time

 

Sep 14, UP: “Terre Haute, Ind., Sept. 14 – (U.P.) – The speeding Dixie Flyer passenger train of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois railroad and a northbound mail train collided in a heavy fog early today and state police said that at least 27 persons were killed and 40 injured, some critically. The accident occurred in North Terre Haute, about two miles north of here, piling bodies of soldiers and civilians – injured, dead and dying – among tons of twisted railroad cars, baggage, mail and spilled milk cans along the right-of-way.

 

“Vigo county coroner Denzil M. Ferguson said that the discovery of two more bodies in the wreckage raised the toll of known dead to 27 shortly before noon – 23 of them soldiers. Reports from the scene to Capt. Walter Eckert at state police headquarters in Indianapolis said that hospitals and funeral homes had listed 27 dead and 40 injured. Unofficial reports said that about 100 persons, many of them military personnel, had been hurt. Carl Bauermeister, chairman of the Red Cross disaster committee who was compiling a casualty list, estimated the dead at 35 and the injured at 100 after a partial check.

 

“Railroad officials said that the trains crashed head-on in a heavy fog about 2:20 a.m. They said the single track was protected by automatic safety block signals. The two engines were demolished, two baggage cars and three tourist cars on the 14-car Flyer were derailed and the first two cars on the 15-car mail train damaged.

 

“Most of the casualties were soldiers riding in the first three cars of the fast train bound from Chicago to Miami. Some of the soldiers had returned to this country only recently from the fighting in Italy. They had been at Ft. Sheridan, Ill., were enroute to Florida….

 

“The passenger train struck the standing north bound mail train at North Terre Haute with such force that the tops of the first car on each train were sheared off when hurled against the locomotives.

 

“Among the known dead was Louis Rausch, 55, Evansville, Ind., fireman on the flier. Engineer Frank Blair, 55, Evansville, was injured. Charles Rohlfer, 55, Evansville, engineer on the mail train, also was injured. The fireman of the mail train escaped by jumping just before the crash.

 

“Reports on the total number of casualties varied, and the names of the soldiers were withheld by military authorities until after next of kin could be notified….

 

“Lt. E. B. Owens, 29, Chicago, an army officer aboard the Flyer, said there were 48 soldiers in the first car which was demolished and at least 15 were killed.

 

“The dead also included the engineer in one of the trains who was killed outright, a fireman who was scalded to death in the cab and one other crewman…..” (United Press. “27 Persons Killed and 40 Critically Injured In Terre Haute Wreck. Speeding Dixie Flyer Crashes into Mail Train Near Terre Haute. Those Killed Are Mostly Soldiers.” Linton Daily Citizen, IN. 9-14-1944, p. 1.)

 

Sep 15: “The total known dead in the wreck was twenty-nine, twenty six members of the armed forces and three civilians, all of whom were employes of the C. & E. I. Railroad.

 

“Civilian dead are:

 

Frank O. Blain, 52 years old, engineer of the Dixie Flyer, Farmersburg, Ind.

Louis Rousch, fireman on the Dixie Flyer, of Evansville, Ind.

James C. Turner, 39 years old, colored, porter on the Dixie Flyer, of Chicago, Ill.

 

“Military authorities announced the following Army dead:

 

T/Sgt. Henry L. Baldauf, Leo W. Baldauf, father, Box 63, Chatsworth, Ill.

T/Sgt. Benjamin R. Brown…418 East Twenty-eighth Street, Minneapolis, Minn.

T/Sgt. Donald W. Clapp, Donald E. Clapp, father, R.R. 7, Meadville, Pa.

T/Sgt. Wallace F. Doerfler, Lillian Doerfler, mother, 4410 West Jackson Blvd, Chicago.

T/Sgt. Robert C. Hecht, Frances Hecht, wife, 5625 Vernon Street, Dearborn, Mich.

T/Sgt. Robert Hoeskstra, George Hoeskstra, father, 10050 South Racine Ave., Chicago.

T/Sgt. Charles A. Loeffler, Charles A. Loeffler, father, 5545 Wayne Avenue, Chicago.

S/Sgt. Donald J. Van Dixhorn, Laura Van Dixhorn, Route 2, Sheboygan Falls, Wis.

S/Sgt. Robert H. Yartz, Clarence Wendell (Mrs.) mother, 1813 Shore Drive, Marinette, Wis.

S/Sgt. Henry W. Barnholts, Violet Barnholts, wife, Postville, Iowa.

S/Sgt. Robert W. Cundiff, Mrs. Jessie Cundiff, mother, 2627 Seventeenth St. Detroit, Mi.

S/Sgt. Arthur D. Fitch, Evelyn F. Fitch, wife, Tipton, Iowa.

S/Sgt. Norbert H. Gnoit, Miss Loretta Gnoit, sister, 1701 Florence Street, South Bend, Ind.

S/Sgt. Richard A. Hancock, Mrs. Signa G. Baker, mother, 116 Aurora St., Des Moines, Ia.

S/Sgt. Charles B. Jordan, Mrs. Madge A. Jordan, mother, 1736 Walker St., Des Moines, Ia.

S/Sgt. Charles W. Mercer, Mrs. Edward Mercer, mother, Packwood, Iowa.

S/Sgt. Marion F. Minnear, Mrs. Rosemary E. Minniear, wife, 409 E. Buttlesst, Midland, Mi

S/Sgt. Robert Purdue, Mrs. Mary M. Purdue, mother, Byrn, Minn.

S/Sgt. William L. Schley, William R. Schley, father, R.F.D. 1, Forestville, Wis.

S/Sgt. Robert W. Stoddard, George C. Stoddard, father, 105 Charles St., Jackson, Mich.

S/Sgt. Robert P. Thorn, Ben M. Thorn, father, 803 Union Street, Jackson, Mich.

S/Sgt. Wallace E. West, Mrs. Gertrude West, mother, 608 N. Montgomery, Watertown, Wis.

S/Sgt. Oscar W. Lange, Mrs. Flora Lange, mother, 14535 East Eight Mile Rd., East Detroit.

T/Sgt. Robert F. Vernette, Mrs. Ernest Vernette, mother, 23 Elizabeth St., River Rouge, MI.

 

(Linton Daily Citizen, IN. “All C.&E.I. Train Wreck Victims Have Been Identified, 26 Soldiers Wreck Dead.” 9-15-1944, p. 1.)

 

Sources

 

Bennett, Mark. “Wabash Valley Native, Pulitzer Prize Winner Writes Song on Fontanet Powder Mill Explosion.” The Tribune Star (Terre Haute, IN), 10-10-2007. Accessed at:  http://www.tribstar.com/features/local_story_283191051.html

 

Linton Daily Citizen, IN. “All C.&E.I. Train Wreck Victims Have Been Identified, 26 Soldiers Wreck Dead.” 9-15-1944, p. 1. Accessed 3-27-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/linton-daily-citizen-sep-15-1944-p-1/

 

McCormick, Mike. “Train wreck kills 29 – 60 years ago.” Terre Haute Tribune Star. 6-27-2004. Accessed 3-27-2024 at: https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/vcpl/id/10444/

 

United Press. “27 Persons Killed and 40 Critically Injured In Terre Haute Wreck. Speeding Dixie Flyer Crashes into Mail Train Near Terre Haute. Those Killed Are Mostly Soldiers.” Linton Daily Citizen, IN. 9-14-1944, p. 1.)

 

 

 

 

 

1944 — Sep 12-15, Great Atlantic Hurricane, NC-ME esp. USCG/USN/339-341; MA/NY– 390-395

—     >400  NWS FO, Philadelphia/Mount Holly. “Historical Weather Facts…,”  Oct 17, 2005.[1]

—     >400  Nese, Jon and Glenn Schwartz. The Philadelphia Area Weather Book, 2002, p. 142.

–300-400  Wikipedia. “1944 Great Atlantic Hurricane.” [Blanchard: This is a very large range.]

–387-395  Blanchard range.*

—       390  Barnes. North Carolina’s Hurricane History (3rd edition). 2001, p. 77.

–344  At sea   –46  On land/coastal (45  New England {26  MA} –1  NC

—       390  Blake/Rappaport/Landsea. The Deadliest, Costliest…[US] Cyclones…, 2007, p. 7.[2]

—       390  Dunn and Miller. Atlantic Hurricanes (Revised Edition). 1964, p. 309.

—       390  Hebert/Jarrell/Mayfield. The Deadliest, Costliest…[US] Hurricanes… 1993, p.80.[3]

—       390  Jarrell/Mayfield/Rappaport/Landsea. The Deadliest…United States Hurricanes. 2001.

—       390  Ludlum. The American Weather Book, 1982, p. 191.

—       390  Norcross. Hurricane Almanac. 2007, p. 54.[4]

—       390  Rappaport and Fernandez-Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones. 1995.

—       390  Sav. Natural Disasters: Some Empirical and Economic Considerations. 1974, p. 8.

—       390  Smith. “MEMA: A Look Back at the Most Notable Hurricanes to Hit New England.”[5]

                        –344  At sea.                          —  46  On land.

—       389  Harm’s Way: Response Recovery Resilience. Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944.

—       344  Douglas 1958, 291. (Maritime)

 

 

Maritime                                (341)

—<400  NOAA. 70th Anniversary of the Great Atlantic hurricane (webpage). 9-15-2014.[6]

—  344  Douglas. Hurricane. 1958, p. 291. (Presumably all at sea.)

—  341  Blanchard tally from breakouts below:

—  33  USS YMS-409                          Sep 12, foundered off Cape Hatteras, NC.

–248  USS Warrington (DD-383).     Sep 13, Caribbean, foundered; all hands lost.

—  26  USCG Cutter Bedloe                Sep 14, off Cape Hatteras, NC (of 38)

—  22  USCG Cutter Jackson              Sep 14, off Cape Hatteras, NC (of 41)

—  12  USCG Lightship LS-73                        Sep 15, Vineyard Sound, MA

 

* The maritime loss (341) for five USCG and USN vessels is generally accepted. The land loss is another matter. Our tally of deaths reported in the press at the time gives us a range of 41-54. The low-end of the range represents deaths that were specified in some way, such as the drowning death of a man in a named locale. The high-end of the range includes reporting such as a death in Virginia, which we could not find any detail, or deaths in Connecticut over and above the number for which we did find detail. Given that multiple sources note 46 deaths on land, we assume there may well have been on the order of five deaths concerning which we have not located confirming detail. The Independent News Service on Sep 17 reported 51 land deaths.

 

Land/Coastal                         (41-54)

 

Connecticut                (3-6)    Massachusetts            (     15)             North Carolina          (   1)

Delaware                    (1-2)    New Jersey                 (    7-9)                        Rhode Island             (0-1)

Maine                         (   2)     New York                   (12-17)                        Virginia                      (0-1)

 

Land/Coastal Fatalities Reporting

 

— 51  INS. “51 Persons Reported Dead in Hurricane.” Port Arthur News, TX, 9-17-1944, p. 2.

            —  New Jersey

            —  New York

—  New England

— 46  Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA. “The dirty dozen of New England hurricanes.” 6-7-2011.

— 40  New York Times. “Storm Toll Rises to 40 Along Coast.” 9-17-1944, p. 34.

            –14  New England

—  7  New Jersey

–17  New York

—  1  North Carolina

—  1  Virginia

— 39  ANS. “Death Toll from Hurricane in Eastern U.S. Hits 39.” Stars and Stripes. 9-18-1944, p1.

            —  4  Connecticut

–15  Massachusetts

—  3  New Jersey

–17  New York

—>37  AP. “Death Toll 37 in Northeastern Gale.” Delta Democrat-Times, Greenville MS, 9-17-1944, 1.

            –13  New England

—  5  New Jersey

–17  New York

—  1  North Carolina

—  1  Virginia

—  36  UP. “Hurricane Toll Reported at 37.” Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, IA, 9-17-1944, p. 4.

—  6  Connecticut

—  2  Maine

—  5  Massachusetts

—  4  New Jersey

            –17  New York City and Long Island

—  1  North Carolina

—  1  Rhode Island

—  1  Virginia

—         28  (Non-maritime). UP. “Hurricane Damage…N.E.” Lowell Sun, MA, 9-16-1944, p. 32.

 

 

 

Breakout by State (Onshore) and Maritime Location of Loss-of-Life

 

Maritime                    (341)

–344  Sumner. “The North Atlantic Hurricane of Sep 8-16, 1944.” MWR, 72/9, 1944, p189.[7] 

–341  Blanchard tally; Warrington, Bedloe, Jackson, YMS-409, Lightship LS-73 losses.[8]

 

Onshore                      (  46)

—     64  Blake/Rappaport/Landsea. The Deadliest, Costliest…Most Intense US Cyclones, 2007.[9]

–41-54  Blanchard tally from State breakouts below.[10]

—     51  INS. “Hurricane Death Toll 51.” Syracuse Herald-American, NY, 9-17-1944, p. 10.

—     46  Douglas 1958, p. 291.

—     46  Sumner. “The North Atlantic Hurricane of Sep 8-16, 1944.”  MWR, 72/9, 1944, p. 189. 

—     46  Webster. “Lightship Crew Remembered.”  Naval Institute Proceedings, 1999.

—     40  New York Times. “Storm Toll Rises to 40 Along Coast.” 9-17-1944, p. 34.

—     37  UP. “Hurricane Toll Reported at 37.” Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, IA, 9-17-1944, p. 4.

—     26  (New England only.)  Gelber, Ben. The Pennsylvania Weather Book. 2002, 233.)

 

Connecticut                (  3-6)

–6  UP. “Hurricane Toll Reported at 37.” Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, IA, 9-17-1944, p. 4.

–4  ANS. “Death Toll from Hurricane in Eastern U.S. Hits 39.” Stars and Stripes. 9-18-1944, p1.

–4  Assoc. Press. “Hurricane Death Toll Rises to 28.” Albuquerque Journal, NM, 9-16-1944, p1.

–4  Sumner. “The North Atlantic Hurricane of Sep 8-16, 1944.”  MWR, 72/9, 1944, p. 189. 

–3  United Press. “Hurricane Damage Heavy in N.E.” Lowell Sun, MA, 9-16-1944, p. 32.

–3  Blanchard tally from locality breakouts:

Breakout by locality of Connecticut hurricane-related fatalities (where noted):

–1  Naugatuck. Unidentified man “found dying on a road in Naugatuck…”[11]

–1  New Haven, Sep 15. Unidentified man electrocuted; touched steel fence with downed wire.[12]

–1  Niantic, East Lyme. Clayton Darrow drowned trying to beach rowboat during storm.[13]

 

Delaware                    (1-2)

–1  South Bowers Beach. “Death attributed to over-exertion.” Found on beach; Robert Ewing, 69.[14]

–1  Wilmington. Death “caused by over-exertion during the storm…” [Heart attack?][15]

 

Maine                         (   2)

–2  UP. “Hurricane Toll Reported at 37.” Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, IA, 9-17-1944, p. 4.

–1  Bangor, Sep 15. “Mrs. Eleanor Gallant, 40, was killed by a rain-blinded bicyclist.”[16]

–1  Portland, Sep 15. Electrocution; Keith Fraser, 10, came into contact with downed wire.[17]

 

Massachusetts            (15)

–26  Sumner. “The North Atlantic Hurricane of Sep 8-16, 1944.” MWR, 72/9, 1944, p. 189.[18] 

–15  ANS. “Death Toll from Hurricane in Eastern U.S. Hits 39.” Stars and Stripes. 9-18-1944, p1.

—  5  UP. “Hurricane Toll Reported at 37.” Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, IA, 9-17-1944, p. 4.

—  3  Assoc. Press. “Hurricane Death Toll Rises to 28.” Albuquerque Journal, NM, 9-16-1944, p1.

—  3  United Press. “Hurricane Damage Heavy in N.E.” Lowell Sun, MA, 9-16-1944, p. 32.

—  1  Harwich, Sep 17. Vehicle hits storm-uprooted tree; Frederick L. Rolfe, 50, inspecting damage.[19]

 

New Jersey                 (7-9)

–9  Sumner. “The North Atlantic Hurricane of Sep 8-16, 1944.” MWR, 72/9, 1944, p. 189. 

–8  Nese and Schwartz. The Philadelphia Area Weather Book. 2002, p. 142.

–7  New York Times. “Storm Toll Rises to 40 Along Coast.” 9-17-1944, p. 34.

–7  Blanchard tally from locality breakouts below.

–5  AP. “Death Toll 37 in Northeastern Gale.” Delta Democrat-Times, Greenville, MS, 9-17-1944, 1.

–4  UP. “Hurricane Toll Reported at 37.” Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, IA, 9-17-1944, p. 4.

–3  ANS. “Death Toll from Hurricane in Eastern U.S. Hits 39.” Stars and Stripes. 9-18-1944, p1.

–2  Assoc. Press. “Hurricane Death Toll Rises to 28.” Albuquerque Journal, NM, 9-16-1944, p1.

–2  United Press. “Hurricane Damage Heavy in N.E.” Lowell Sun, MA, 9-16-1944, p. 32.

Breakout of New Jersey hurricane-related fatalities by locality where noted:

–1  Asbury Park, Sep 15. Electrocuted; JCP&L lineman making repairs on pole downtown.[20]

–1  Atlantic City, Sep 14. John Di Cicco hit by piece of cornice ripped from bldg. by wind.[21]

–1  Atlantic City. “…a woman died of a heart attack…” NYT. “Hurricane Tears…” 9-15-1944, 1.

–2  Beach Haven, Ocean County. Bodies of unidentified man and woman wash up on shore.[22]

–1      “            “          “          “     Unnamed toddler. Larsen. “Shore battered by Great Atlantic…”

–1  Monmouth Co. Larsen. “Shore battered by Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944.” 9-11-2017.

 

New York                   (12-17)

–17  ANS. “Death Toll from Hurricane in Eastern U.S. Hits 39.” Stars and Stripes. 9-18-1944, p1.

–17  New York Times. “Storm Toll Rises to 40 Along Coast.” 9-17-1944, p. 34.

–17  New York City and Long Island. United Press, Boston, Sep 16.[23]

–13  NYC and Long Island, “most of them by electrocution.”[24]

–12  Blanchard tally of locality breakouts below.

—  6  Sumner. “The North Atlantic Hurricane of Sep 8-16, 1944.” MWR, 72/9, 1944, p. 189. 

Breakout by locality on New York hurricane-related fatalities (where noted):

–10  NYC. Electrocutions; “from touching live wires broken by the storm…” NYT. 9-15-1944, p. 1.[25]

–1  Brooklyn, Sep 14. Electrocuted; Joseph Lauzon, motorman, as he stepped from car.[26]

–1  Hollis, Queens. Presumed electrocution; found dead on street, Bernard McLaughlin, 54.[27]

–1  Jamaica, Queens. Presumed electrocution; found dead in street, Alex Dorgan, 58.[28]

–1  Jamaica, Queens. Presumed electrocution; found dead in street, Charles Mochringer, 77.[29]

–1  Jamaica, Queens. Presumed electrocution; found dead in street, Louis Torsiello, 55.[30]

–1  Ozone Park, Queens. Jack Graffigino, 60; electrocuted; stepped on live wire.[31]

–1  Ridgewood, Queens. Electrocuted; Antone Kappus, 54, blown off train platform onto 3rd rail.[32]

—  1  Oceanside, Long Island. Over-exertion during the storm [heart attack?]. NYT. 9-15-1944.[33]

—  1  Port Washington, Johnson Shipyard vessel. Drowning; unidentified man washed overboard.[34]

 

North Carolina          (  1)

–1  Sumner. “The North Atlantic Hurricane of Sep 8-16, 1944.” MWR, 72/9, 1944, p. 189. 

–1  United Press. “Hurricane Damage Heavy in N.E.” Lowell Sun, MA, 9-16-1944, p. 32.

–1  Nags Head. Electrocution; live wire blown onto car; Levin Solon Parkerson.[35]

 

Rhode Island             (0-1)

–0-1  Blanchard. Could well be accurate, but could find no confirmation with details.

—   1  UP. “Hurricane Toll Reported at 37.” Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, IA, 9-17-1944, p. 4.

 

Virginia                      (0-1)

–0-1  Blanchard. Could well be accurate, but could find no confirmation with details.[36]

—   1  United Press. “Hurricane Damage Heavy in N.E.” Lowell Sun, MA, 9-16-1944, p. 32.

 

Breakout of Maritime Losses by Ship and Crew:

 

USS Warrington (DD-383)                (248)    Sep 13, Caribbean, foundered; all hands lost.

–248  US Dept. Navy. “Casualties: US Navy…Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured…”

–248  US Naval Historical Ctr. “Typhoons and hurricanes: The Effects of…,” 2017. 

–“some 247.” Dawes. The Dragon’s Breath: Hurricane At Sea. 1996, back cover..

 

–247  Webster. “Lightship Crew Remembered.” Naval Institute Proceedings, 1999.

 

USS YMS-409                                    (  33)   Sep 12, foundered off Cape Hatteras, NC

–33  USS YMS-409 Minesweeper, Sep 12. Wrecksite.eu. USS YMS-409 (+1944).[37]

–33  USS YMS-409 Minesweeper, Sep 12. NavSource Online; U.S. Navy. Casualties…[38]

 

USCG Cutter Bedloe                        (  26)   Sep 14, off Cape Hatteras, NC (of 38)

–26  USCG Cutter Bedloe (Sep 14). USCG, Historian’s Office.  “Bedloe, 1927.

 

USCG Cutter Jackson                      (  22)   Sep 14, off Cape Hatteras, NC (of 41)

–22  USCG Cutter Jackson, Sep 14, off Cape Hatteras, NC. USCG. Jackson, 1927.[39]

–21  USCG Cutter Jackson (Sep 14). USCG, Historian’s Office. “Bedloe, 1927.

 

USCG Lightship Vineyard (LS-73)  (  12)   Sep 15, Vineyard Sound, MA[40]

–12  Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 94.[41]

–12  New England Historical Society. The Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944… 2017.

–12  US Navy. Ships Lost: Navy & Coast Guard Vessels, WW II, Dec 7, 1941-Oct 1, 1945.

–12  Webster, W.R. “Lightship Crew Remembered.” Proceedings of the Naval Institute, 1999.

 

Narrative Information

(General/Overview)

 

Douglas: “In New England, few people had heard that the hurricane of 1815 had been followed exactly six years later by that if 1821. Now, with coasts blacked out and radios silenced by the war, there were almost no warnings of a violent disturbance which followed the track of the New England hurricane of `38, from Puerto Rico to Long Island. On the eighth of September 1944, a weather officer tried to fly an army reconnaissance plane into it but winds of 140 miles per hour sheared rivets of the wings. The hurricane passed Hatteras, moved up the coast northeastward across Rhode Island and Massachusetts and along the Maine coast. By the fifteenth it was blowing over Newfoundland and was lost off Greenland.

 

“There was damage enough, but only one-third that of `38, on land, and only 46 deaths. At sea, 298 service men were lost with one destroyer, two Coast Guard cutters, a lightship and a mine sweeper.”  (Douglas 1958, p. 291.)

 

Ludlum: “Great Atlantic Hurricane swept Cape Hatteras with central pressure of 27.97 in…; sideswiped New Jersey and Long Island, crossed southeast Massachusetts; 390 lost at sea.” 

(Ludlum 1982, p. 191.)

 

NWS: “Sep 9…1944… The “Great Atlantic Hurricane” ravaged the east coast. The storm killed 22 persons and caused 63 million dollars damage in the Chesapeake Bay area, then besieged New England killing 390 persons and causing another 100 million dollars damage. (TWC[42]).[43]…. 

 

NWS: “Sep 14…1944… A very destructive hurricane swept across Cape Hatteras, side swiped NJ and LI, and crossed SE MA. The hurricane killed more than 400 persons, mainly at sea, putting this hurricane on The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492 to Present, list….The hurricane destroyed the ACY [Atlantic City] boardwalk. A wind gust was measured to 100 mph from the NE at ACY, NYC had a gust to 97 mph from the N, Cape Henry, VA, G148/NW, and ORF, G79/N. These were the strongest wind gusts recorded at those places in 1944. PHL [Philadelphia] received 1.49″ of rain on the 12th, 2.80″, a daily record, on the 13th, and 1.17″ on the 14th, for a total of 5.46″. NYC received daily record rainfall amounts of 3.94″ on the 13th and 3.82″ on the 14th. The pressure at PHL fell to 29.33″, the 6th lowest reading for the month of Sep. This hurricane was the 2nd, and strongest, tropical system to affect the Mid-Atlantic states in 1944. (For detailed information on an attack of giant tsunami-like waves upon the NJ shore associated with this hurricane, from the Mt Holly home page, go to Office Information, then to Research/Reports, and then to Tsunami Information.)” (NCC[44]) (NHC[45]) (Ludlum[46]) (TWC[47]).” (NWS FO, Philadelphia/Mount Holly. “Historical Weather Facts…,”  Oct 17, 2005.)

 

Sumner: “The intense Atlantic coast hurricane of September 8-16 and the Florida-Cuba storm of October 13-21, each of which wrought damage in excess of $100,000,000, carried the hurricane season of 1944 into second position among the most destructive years of record. The historical New England hurricane of September 17-21, 1938, which from the viewpoint of property damage was probably the greatest natural disaster ever to befall the country, placed the season of 1938 at the top of the list….The second most destructive hurricane in the history of the country struck inland over Long Island on September 14, took a toll of 390 lives (including marine casualties), and wrought property damage of over $100,000,000.” (Sumner. “North Atlantic Hurricanes…Trop. Disturb…1944.” MWR, V72/N12, 3/5 1945, p. 237.) 

 

Sumner on Sep 12: “A weather officer aboard an army reconnaissance plane which became involved in the storm estimated the wind at about 140 miles per hour. He reported turbulence so great that with the pilot and copilot both at the controls the plane could not be kept under control and several times it was feared it would be torn apart or crash out of control. When they returned to base it was found that 150 rivets had been sheared off on one wing alone….

 

“Moving almost due north, at a rate of 25-30 miles per hour, the center passed just east of Hatteras at about 9:20 arm. (E. W. T.) on the 14th. Then turning slightly to the northeastward it moved up the coast, at an accelerated speed of about 40 miles per hour, and crossed over eastern Long Island at about 10 p. m. on the same date. Moving inland about an hour later near Point Judith, R. I., the center crossed the States of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, passing a short. distance southeast of Boston, and moved into Massachusetts Bay after 1 a.m.  The center again passed inland, and later crossed southeastern New Brunswick near the head of the Bay of Fundy….” (Sumner. “The North Atlantic Hurricane…Sep 8-16, 1944.” MWR, 72/9, 1944, pp. 187-188.)

 

“The highest wind velocity recorded by instrument was an extreme velocity of 134 miles per hour, observed at approximately 12:20 p.m. on September 14, at Cape Henry, Va.  Maximum wind velocities equaled or exceeded all previous records at Hatteras, Cape Henry, Atlantic City, New York, and Block Island….

 

“A total of 390 lives were lost as a result of the 1944 hurricane, a large proportion of them as a result of marine casualties. The 46 deaths listed as occurring along the coastal areas of the United States is less than 10 percent of the 494 fatalities resulting from the storm of 1938. Navy marine casualties were directly related to intensified patrol work and other exigencies resulting from weather conditions. Property damage has been estimated at approximately $100,000,000 or about one-third that estimated for the 1938 hurricane….

 

“A total of 51 warnings and advisories were issued by the Hurricane Warning Centers at San Juan, Miami, Washington, and Boston. Prompt dissemination of these warnings by news distributing agencies resulted in the evacuation of thousands of persons in threatened areas, and the safeguarding from storm damage, insofar as was possible, of protectable property. In New York City, during the period of storm inquiries from September 12 to 15 inclusive, a total of 289,486 calls were received over the automatic telephone system….” (Sumner. “The North Atlantic Hurricane…Sep 8-16, 1944.” MWR, 72/9, 1944, p. 188.)

 

“A release by the public relations once of the fifth Naval district lists 344 men, dead or missing, from 5 vessels wrecked and sunk during the hurricane of Sept. 8-16, 1944. The casualties were from the destroyer Warrington, the Coast Guard cutters Jackson and Bedloe, the light vessel Vineyard Sound, and the minesweeper YMS-409.[48] The cutters capsized and sank while protecting a Liberty Ship torpedoed off the North Carolina Coast, and the light vessel dragged anchor and sank about 2 miles to the north­eastward of her station off Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.”  (Sumner. “The North Atlantic Hurricane…Sep 8-16, 1944.” MWR, 72/9, 1944, 189.)

 

Bedloe and Jackson

 

USCG Historian’s Office: “Two Coast Guard cutters the CGS’s BEDLOE (ex-ANTIETAM)[49] and JACKSON, foundered in heavy weather off Cape Hatteras on 14 September, 1944.  The cutters had gone to the assistance of a Liberty Ship which had been torpedoed off the North Carolina coast and almost driven ashore in a later hurricane but she had weathered both blows and was towed to Norfolk with no casualties among her 40 man crew and only slight damage to her cargo. The two cutters were each 125 feet in length and of 220 tons each. The commanding officer of the BEDLOE was Lt. A. S. Hess, and of the JACKSON, Lt. (jg) N. D. Call. The BEDLOE had 5 officers and 33 men on board when sunk, of whom 2 officers and 24 men were lost. The JACKSON had 5 officers and 36 men on board and 2 officers and 19 men were lost. [One from Jackson died after rescue.]

 

“LIFE RAFTS SPOTTED BY PLANES

Twelve survivors from the BEDLOE and nineteen from the JACKSON were spotted on life rafts, those from the BEDLOE  being spotted by a patrol plane and picked up an hour later by a Navy minesweeper. Those from the JACKSON were spotted by a Coast Guard plane from Elizabeth City, N. C., and picked up by a 36 foot cutter from the Oregon Inlet Lifeboat Station, 15 miles away. The former had been in the water 51 hours and the latter 58 hours. The Coast Guard planes landed in the swells, a plane next to each liferaft, and crew members dived into the sea and hauled semi-conscious men onto the wings of the tossing planes, where first aid was administered. A Navy blimp dropped emergency rations. Guided by PBM’s and another Navy blimp, the Coast Guard cutter made directly for the Jackson’s survivors and quickly hauled them aboard. Near the shore the men were transferred aboard a Navy vessel, where they were treated by a physician until Coast Guard PBM‘s[50] landed and flew them to Norfolk for more hospitalization. An intensive search was instituted for the 48 officers and men reported missing in the twin disaster, including the 23 year old skipper of the JACKSON, Lt. (jg) N. O. Call.

 

“CREWS OF EACH CUTTER LOOKED TO OTHER FOR RESCUE

“Survivors said 37 officers and men originally clung to the three Jackson rafts, but 17 died during the second night from exposure and exhaustion. Added to the torment of parched throats, crowded rafts and heavy seas during their 58 hour vigil were sharks and “Portuguese men-of-war,” multi-tailed marine pests whose stingers continually lashed the bodies of the storm-tossed men. Ironically enough, crew members of each vessel pinned their hopes on rescue by the other, unaware of the like doom of each ship. Lt. Hess of the Bedloe explained: “Skippers often think alike. I was trying to work our way out to sea a bit to avoid the heavy swell hitting near the shore and I figured the Jackson was doing likewise and would be somewhere in the vicinity.”

 

“BEDLOE GOES UNDER

“Struck four times by the towering waves, the Bedloe tossed like a matchstick in the ocean before going down. All 38 officers and crew men safely abandoned ship and at least 30 were able to obtain a hold on the liferafts. However, the strain of fighting the hurricane aboard, plus the ordeal of hanging to liferafts for 51 hours, proved too much for most of the men and only 12 were able to hang on until rescued. One man slid under the water only minutes before the rescue craft came into sight.

 

“END OF THE JACKSON

“Borne to the top of a huge swell, the Jackson was struck by two swells and rolled over until the mast dipped water. As the swells subsided, the ship righted and was hit by another high sea and turned on her side a second time. Struggling out of that, the vessel was carried high by a third sea. It seemed then, survivors said, that she hung in mid-air for seconds; then the wind seized her, turned her on her side and completely over. She disappeared under a huge wave. Next day, two of the survivors had tried to swim ashore which they thought was 10 miles away. After swimming about 3 hours they realized they were making little headway and decided to return. Turning back, one of them saw a shark about 30 feet away headed for the other. The shark was more than six feet long but passed him without harm.

 

“”WE MADE IT”

“William W. McCreedy, boatswain’s mate 1/c from the Oregon inlet Lifeboat Station, who assisted in the rescue of the survivors from the Jackson said the first thing he saw was a man doubled up in a small raft, his eyes resembling “a couple of blue dots in a beefsteak.” “He flashed a beautiful smile that couldn’t be missed,” McCreedy continued, “I felt I had looked at something a man sees once in a lifetime — sort of thought I had come to the edge of heaven. Then, as though his last will to fight had been lost when he saw us, slumped into the water. The radioman grabbed him and held him in the raft. I went overboard to help and the three of us dragged the raft down. The unconscious man’s foot was twisted in the lines, but I cut him free and we put him in the boat.” Just before reaching shore, the man reached, stroked McCreedy’s face and mumbled “We made it.” Then he died.” (USCG, Historian’s Office. The Coast Guard at War. “Lost Cutters…Bedloe,” 1949.)

 

Ostrom: “Search and Rescue duty in the Atlantic posed the dual threats of U-boats and seasonal storms.  Responding to the 12 September 1944 torpedo attack on a U.S. merchant ship off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, the Coast Guard cutters Jackson and Bedloe were lost when struck by the category 4 Great Atlantic Hurricane.  Forth-eight Coastguardsmen lost their lives when the cutters rolled and sank in heavy seas.”  (Ostrom 2009, 98.)

 

Vineyard Lightship #73

 

New England Historical Society: “One of the worst tragedies of the Great Atlantic Hurricane was the sinking of the Vineyard Lightship, moored off the entrances of Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound…the ship’s commanding officer Warrant Officer Edgar Sevigny…asked permission to move to a sheltered location for a couple of hours while the storm passed, but was denied….By morning, the lightship had disappeared. All the Navy reported was the lightship was off station. When she was finally found, she was sunk in 80-feet of water nearly a mile and a half away from her last position. The vessel’s masts and funnel were snapped off at the deck but her moorings were still attached, which suggests the crew attempted to obey orders and keep the vessel at its position right until it was overwhelmed by the waves.” (New England Historical Society. The Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944… 2017.)

 

Webster: “On 15 September, 1999, the U. S. Coast Guard and the City of New Bedford, Massachusetts honored 12 crew men lost in the sinking of the Coast Guard’s Vineyard Lightship #73 off Cuttyhunk in a horrific 1944 hurricane. The solemn ceremony ended a 55-year quixotic journey of the light ship’s sole surviving crew man, Boatswain Mate Senior Chief Harold Flagg, USN (Retired)….

 

“There were 17 men assigned to the Vineyard Lightship #73, with a crew of 12 on the boat at all times. The remaining five crewmen were off on compensatory leave for a period of two weeks….

 

“Built by the Spedden Ship Building Company of Baltimore, Maryland in 1901, the 129 foot long [boat]…was originally designated “No. 73.” From 1902-1924, No. 73 was positioned near Pollock Rip, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Later, the ship was transferred to the Sow and Pigs Reef

at the Western end of Cuttyhunk Island…and given the name “Vineyard.” Her charge was to warn ships entering Vineyard Sound and nearby Narragansett Bay of the reef’s rocks and shoals.  Many ships have come to grief in this area, including the famous New Bedford whaler Wanderer in 1924, the passenger ferry Pilgrim Belle in 1985 and most recently, the Queen Elizabeth II in 1992. (Unpublished manuscript Harold Flagg.)

 

“The September 1944 “Great Atlantic Hurricane,” as termed by the US Weather Bureau, was one of the largest and most powerful storms to savage the east coast. It was also one of the first hurricanes to be flown into and tracked by the then newly formed Army Air Corps Hurricane Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. Perhaps one of the largest Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded, the Great Atlantic Hurricane generated hurricane force winds over an estimated width of 200 miles and spawned gale force winds over a swath of 600 miles. 

           

“In terms of destruction, this hurricane sank a total of five ships, claiming 344 lives at sea and 46 lives ashore. Two hundred forty seven officers and men of the USS Warrington died, as well as 97 other sailors from the Coast Guard cutters Jackson, Bedloe, Vineyard Lightship #73 and the Navy minesweeper YMS 409….

 

“Although the exact cause of the sinking will never be conclusively known, the Coast Guard’s own investigation reported that “as a result of a hurricane, the Vineyard Lightship #73 foundered.” (30 September 1944 ROI COTP New Bedford p. 6)”  (Webster, W. R. “Lightship Crew Remembered.”  Proceedings of the Naval Institute, 1999.)

 

USS Warrington

 

Dawes (inside cover): “Over the centuries thousands of ships have been lost to violent storms at sea, but the story of the USS Warrington is like no other.  The destroyer’s loss in the Atlantic in September 1944 is one of the few cases in which there were enough survivors to re-create a complete picture of what happened. This book recounts the experiences of the Warrington’s sixty-eight survivors, who spent some forty hours in the water, It is based on their testimony before a Court of Inquiry and on the author’s own firsthand experience with the ship and its crew – Cdr. Robert Dawes was her captain until fourteen days before she sank.

 

“The story that emerges is one of heroism and neglect. Dissecting the reasons for the disaster, Commander Dawes shows that the ship’s loss was the result of a series of mistakes that should never have happened, and he cites compelling and disturbing evidence. Some fourteen weather warnings were ignored, for example, vividly demonstrating the fact that the finest system of weather advisories in the world is useless if warnings are not heeded. Neglected maintenance and repair caused machines to break down. Long months of unrelieved, mind-numbing operations had taken their toll on the men….

 

“The author questions the Court of Inquiry’s harsh treatment of some of the survivors and the court’s failure to recognize the heroism of several crew members while criticizing other actions that had no bearing on the Warrington’s loss….

 

Elbert B Smith Foreword to Dawes: “On 13 September 1944, the USS Warrington, DD 383, capsized and sank in a hurricane some three hundred miles off the coast of northern Florida. Three-fourths of her officers and crew, including one of my dearest friends, were lost after herculean efforts to save the ship, most of them because of an inexcusable delay in rescue operations. After a lengthy inquiry, three officers faced courts-martial. The records tell a gripping dstory of a tired crew and overworked ship under a new captain barely acquainted with his vessel, officers, and men, ordered to sail despite a lack of urgency into the teeth of an already identified hurricane. She was escorting and was subject to the orders of a new and much larger ship also commanded by a new captain. A lack of cooperation between the two captains played a major role in the catastrophe. Using his best judgment, the Warrington’s captain made mistakes that are far more obvious to the historian who knows the results than they were to the captain struggling to save his ship. But for a careless error at the Brookly Navy Yard, the Warrington would have been on another assignment nowhere near the hurricane on 13 September…” (p. xi.)

 

(Dawes, Cdr. Robert A. Jr. (USN, Ret.). The Dragon’s Breath: Hurricane At Sea. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1996.

 

 

Naval Historical Center: “…the destroyer USS Warrington (DD-383) sank off Florida–drowning 248–during a great Atlantic hurricane on 13 September 1944.”  (Naval Historical Ctr. “FAQs. Typhoons and Hurricanes…,” 2005.) 

 

YMS-409 (USN)

 

Adams: “Great Atlantic Hurricane, 1944 – The Great Atlantic Hurricane was one of the worst to ever strike the US eastern seaboard, wreaking havoc with shipping (similar to the 1919 storm). It saw one of worst peacetime losses in the US Navy’s history…. The minesweeper USS YMS-409 also sank with the loss of all 33 crew.” 

 

Cressman, September 14 (Thursday): “Motor minesweeper YMS 409, assigned duties as an additional escort to the NG convoy scattered by the storm, founders in the hurricane and sinks.”  (Cressman. The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II, Part 773, p. 254.)

 

HyperWar: “12 September, Tue….Motor minesweeper YMS-409 founders and sinks off Atlantic Coast.” (HyperWar. The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, “Chapter VI: 1944.”

 

Uboat.net: “Lost 12 Sep 1944…Foundered and sunk off the US east coast during a storm.” (Uboat.net. Allied Warships. “USS YMS-409 (YMS-409).” Accessed 3-11-2017.)

 

Newspapers

 

Sep 11: Miami, Fla., Sept. 11 – (AP) – Weather Bureau officials said a tropical storm attended by winds of full hurricane force near the center and by gales over a large area was centered early today about 540 miles east of Nassau, capital of the Bahama Islands. At its present speed and direction the hurricane would not reach the United States coast for from 40 to 50 hours, the weather bureau said.” (Associated Press. “Hurricane Winds East of Bahamas,” The Salisbury Times, MD. 9-11-1944, p. 1.)

 

Sep 12: “Miami, Fla., Sept. 12 – (AP) – The weather bureau reported today that hurricane warnings are indicated for the northern Bahama islands, and advised persons along the Atlantic coast from Miami to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to be on the alert for further advices about a severe tropical storm. ‘The great Atlantic hurricane,’ said the bureau, in a 10 a.m. advisory, ‘is centered near latitude 36 [unclear] degrees north, longitude 72 degrees west, moving westward abut 10 or 12 miles per hour. This position is about 525 miles east of Miami. ‘It is attended by full hurricane winds over a considerable area around the center, and gales extending outward 200 miles ‘Broadcast by all radio stations on south Atlantic coast requested.’

 

“The advisory said ‘there is still a chance for a change in the direction of movement,’ but added: ‘Warning may be necessary late today or tonight for some sections of the United States coast.’

 

“Army and navy hurricane-hunting planes which took off before dawn flew into the storm area while crew members sent back observations which led the weather bureau to issue the preliminary alert.” (Associated Press. “Tropical Storm Warnings to Coastal Residents of State.” The High Point Enterprise, NC, 9-12-1944, p. 1.)

 

Sep 13: “Miami, Fla., Sept. 13 – (AP) – Storm warnings were hoisted along the Carolina and North Georgia coasts today as a great Atlantic hurricane moved close to the threatening point. A 10:30 a.m. Weather Bureau advisory placed the storm about 300 miles east of Titusville, Fla., and forecast a curse which would ‘bring the center close to the coast of the Carolinas.’ Meteorologist Grady Norton noted, however, a tendency for the big hurricane to turn more to the northward, or even to the northeastward, and thus spare the coast a dangerous blow. ‘If the storm is to miss the Carolina coast,’ he said, ‘it will have to turn within the 18-hour period which began at 8 a.m. today. There is still a good chance that it will swing away, but I strongly urge persons in the warning area to keep in the closest touch with developments.’

 

“The hurricane is the strongest in years to blow out of tropical seas and head in the general direction of the American coast. The advisory said there were full hurricane winds, of 75 miles an hour or higher, over a considerable area around the center, and gales over a very large area.” (Associated Press. “Hurricane is Still Threat to East Coast.” The Salisbury Times, MD. 9-13-1944, p. 1.)

 

Sep 14: “Norfolk, Va., Sept. 14. – (AP) – Hampton Roads communities prepared today for the approaching Atlantic hurricane, which the Norfolk weather bureau reported would sweep80 to 100 miles off the Virginia Capes about 6 p.m. (E.W.T.) [Eastern War Time]. Winds of 75 miles per hour were expected at Virginia Beach and 60 miles per hour at Norfolk,

 

“Meteorologists here said at 11 a.m. that the hurricane, moving north-northeast at a speed of about 20 miles per hour, had caused wind velocities of 74 miles at 10 a.m. at Caffey’s Inlet, N.C., 70 miles north of Cape Hatteras, with gusts of 90 miles per hour recorded at Weeksville, south of Elizabeth City, N.C.

 

“The wind velocity at Cape Henry, just south of Virginia Beach, climbed from 35 miles an hour at 9 o’clock this morning to 56 miles at 11 a.m., and the wind was blowing 36 miles an hour at Norfolk at the same hour. The port city felt gusts up to 50 miles per hour.

 

“High seas will lash nearby beach areas, the Norfolk weather station reported, and should reach their peak about 7 p.m. Tides four feet above normal were predicted for Norfolk. The highest tide on record here was nine feet above normal in the hurricane of Aug. 23, 1933.

 

“Mayor W. W. Elliott of Virginia Beach ordered all volunteer firemen at the resort community to stand by for possible emergency and all Coast Guard personnel at the beach was held on duty. No evacuation order had been issued to Virginia Beach residents at 11 a.m. today, but Lt. C. O. Peele of the beach Coast Guard station said the operators and occupants of all ocean front hotels and cottages had been advised of the storm’s extent. Peele reported that many were leaving the resort.” (Associated Press. “Norfolk Gets Set for Storm.” Gastonia Daily Gazette, NC. 9-14-1944, p. 1.)

 

Sep 15, NYT: “Leaving havoc in its wake along a 500-mile path, the most destructive hurricane since the disaster of 1938 battered the Atlantic Seaboard from Cape Hatteras north to Long Island yesterday.

 

“Moving up the coast from Long Island, the center of the hurricane passed over Rhode Island early this morning, then veered sharply northeastward to Boston, hitting the Massachusetts coast at a point twenty miles south of the city, near Brockton. From there it was expected, the Boston Weather Bureau said, to pass out to sea. Two men were injured to Topfield, Mass., during the height of the storm, when a tree was blown over and crashed into the top of the bus in which they were riding.

 

“Although lashed by drenching rain, which was turned almost into sheets of  spray by gusts of wind of gale force, New York City was spared the worst of the West Indian storm, the center of which apparently passed over eastern Long Island somewhere between Patchogue and Southampton.

 

“Even so, subway service was repeatedly7 disrupted and countless windows were broken by the raging northeaster, which hit the city late in the afternoon and grew in violence until it reached a peak about 9 P.M. Hundreds of thousands of homeward-bound New Yorkers were soaked when they were trapped by the storm at the evening rush hour.

 

“At 0:20 P.M. the Weather Bureau announced that the storm center had passed the city and that the barometer was beginning to rise. Winds were beginning to diminish at that time, the observer on duty reported, and by 1 o’clock this morning the rain had stopped and the wind had dropped to 24 miles an hour. He said, however, that all records for wind velocity here had been broken when thee hurricane’s average velocity reached 80 miles an hour at 8:25 P.M.

 

“Scattering reports of fatalities resulting from the hurricane began to come in late last night after the hurricane itself had roared far to the north and the skies over the city were clearing rapidly. In New York ten persons met death from touching live wires broken by the storm; in Atlantic City an air raid warden was killed by flying debris and a woman died of a heart attack, and deaths were caused by over-exertion during the storm in Oceanside, L.I., and Wilmington, Del.

 

“Trees were toppled by the hundreds in the outlying sections of the city, while police emergency squads were kept busy safeguarding cornices that were threatening to go over before the gale.

 

“An alert of State Police, State Guard and civilian defense workers throughout Brooklyn and Long Island was ordered last night by Acting Gov. Joe R. Hanley, according to an Associated Press dispatch from Warwick, N.Y., which said that the Acting Governor was keeping in touch with developments through Charles Breitel, Governor Dewey’s counsel, at Albany.

 

“Smaller communities along the Long Island and New Jersey shores and as far south as North Carolina were much harder hit….

 

“Half a dozen small communities along the New Jersey shore sixty to eighty miles south of New York were ordered evacuated, including Manasquan Beach, Bay Head, Mantoloking, Lavallette and Seaside Park. Farther south, 2,000 residents of Morehead City, N.C., and between 500 and 1,000 residents of Ocean City, Md., were likewise removed to the interior.

 

“Gov. Leverett Saltonstall of Massachusetts broadcast an appeal to residents of the shore area of that State to leave their homes by 9:30 P.M. and proceed to inland points, while the Rhode Island State police cleared a twelve-mile stretch of the shore from Watch Hill to Weekapaug. Among those moved inland here were hundreds of naval personnel from the naval air station at Charlestown, R. I.

 

“In Providence, R.I., the police ordered the streets cleared of all traffic, both pedestrian and automobile, at 6 P.M. as a safety measure.

 

“Although preliminary reports, necessarily incomplete because of the frequent disruption of communications, failed to show anything approaching the catastrophic effects of the 1938 hurricane, which striking on Sept. 21, took 680 lives and caused $400,000,000 property damage, there was no doubt even as the storm was passing that it had caused heavy damage and much suffering.

 

“Atlantic City, N.J., and neighboring communities on Absecon Island, including Ventnor, Margate and Longport, were cut off from the outside world. Train service in and out of the island was stopped by trees felled across the tracks, and the highways leading to the area were flooded, in some points to a depth of four and five feet. Reports from Atlantic City indicated that hundreds of persons had been left homeless by the blow there and placed estimated property damage in the millions. The famous Steel Pier was badly damaged and the boardwalk was destroyed or damaged for most of its length. Philadelphia sent 100 policemen, twelve ambulances and other rescue workers and equipment to the aid of Atlantic City. Only the flickering lights of candles and lanterns illuminated the homes of the south Jersey shore communities as the electric power lines were downed by the storm. Trolley and bus service was suspended and automobiles parked in streets near the waterfront were completely submerged by the roaring high tide.

 

“Along the south shore of Long Island, Patchogue, Freeport and other communities were likewise plunged into darkness by power failures. Service on the Long Island railroad to many points, including the Rockaways and Long Beach, was seriously delayed. Two persons were marooned in a beach house at Long Beach but were rescued at 9 o’clock last night by a Coast Guard boat from the Atlantic Beach station that went through churning seas to take them to safety….

 

“Live wires were one of the commonest and most serious hazards resulting from the storm. Caused in most cases by falling trees or limbs, they were present in large numbers in every city and twon that was hit hard by the hurricane. In Westchester alone the Westchester Lighting Company reported there were at least 500 cases of broken wires. Fire companies were busy battling small blazes that resulted….” (New York Times. “Hurricane Tears Destructive Path 500 Miles on Coast.” 9-15-1944, pp. 1 and 10.)

 

Sep 15: “New Haven, Conn. Sept. 15 (AP) – Connecticut was wind-battered and wet today, and there was at least one death – but the state was thankful that the hurricane which blasted in from the Atlantic between 9 and 10 p.m. last night was no worse. Everywhere there was a tangle of fallen wires, streets strewn with tree limbs and some fallen trees, washed out roads and flooded basements; but there was no casualty list to scan as was the case after the hurricane of September 1938, and the damage was not expected to approach the total of the multi-million dollar destruction wrought six years ago…

 

“The one storm death reported up to 5 a.m. was that of an unidentified man here who came in contact with a steel fence onto which an electric wire and fallen. The victim, whose face was burned badly, was found lying against the fence shortly after 2 a.m. today. He was pronounced dead from electric shock by physicians at Grace hospital. He was dressed in working man’s clothes and apparently between 35 and 40 years old, detectives said.

 

“A total of 4.02 inches of rain – more than half an inch an hour – fell in New Haven from 6 p.m. yesterday until the hurricane abated early today, and the figure for Hartford was 4.05 inches….” (Associated Press. “Connecticut Wind-Battered and Wet Today – But Very, Very Thankful.” Lowell Sun, MA. 9-15-1944, p. 1.)

 

Sep 15: “Portland, Sept. 15. – (AP) – Two persons lost their lives in Maine in the Atlantic hurricane which spent much of its wrath to the southward before its center passed over Portland at 4:30 a.m. today. Keith Fraser, 10, of Portland, was electrocuted by contact with a high voltage wire broken by the storm. At Bangor, Mrs. Eleanor Gallant, 40, was killed by a rain-blinded bicyclist.

 

“High winds beat at Maine’s coast, reaching 42 miles an hour at Portland, with 60-mile gusts, as the great storm roared northeastward over the sea. Their force, however, was nothing like the 98 miles recorded at Boston.

 

“Communications were disrupted in places as power and light lines were cut and trees and branches were felled. The State Agriculture Department reported about half Maine’s McIntosh apple crop, ready for harvest, was blown from the trees. A telephone company spokesman estimated 9,000 to 10,000 local telephones and 150 toll circuits in Maine were knocked out temporarily and about 150 poles toppled. Augusta, Waterville, Rockland and Bath areas were hit hardest.

 

“Passage of the storm center brought the wind around from the southeast to the northwest, or off the land, knocking down somewhat the danger of an abnormally high tide at 10:50 a.m.” (AP. “Hurricane Takes Two Lives in State of Maine.” Biddeford Daily Journal, ME. 9-15-1944, p. 1.)

 

Sources

 

Adams, Ked. “The Great Atlantic Hurricane of September 1944: My Remembrances.” DEsausa.org. May 2008. Accessed 3-11-2017 at: http://www.desausa.org/images5/great_atlantic_hurricane_september_1944.htm

 

ANS (Army News Service). “Death Toll from Hurricane in Eastern U.S. Hits 39.” Stars and Stripes (London Edition). 9-18-1944, p. 1. Accessed 2-3-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/new-york-stars-and-stripes-sep-18-1944-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Atlantic City, Other Coastal Resorts Hit Hard by Hurricane.” Bluefield Daily Telegraph, WV. 9-15-1944, p. 1. Accessed 2-2-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/bluefield-daily-telegraph-sep-15-1944-p-1/

 

Associated Press. Cape Cod Communities, Hit by Hurricane, Stride Back to Normalcy.” Lowell Sun, MA, 9-18-1944, p.8. Accessed 2-3-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/lowell-sun-sep-18-1944-p-40/

 

Associated Press. “Connecticut Wind-Battered and Wet Today – But…Thankful.” Lowell Sun, MA. 9-15-1944, p. 1. Accessed 2-2-2020: https://newspaperarchive.com/lowell-sun-sep-15-1944-p-24/

 

Associated Press. “Death Toll 37 in Northeastern Gale.” Delta Democrat-Times, Greenville, MS, 9-17-1944, p. 1. Accessed 2-3-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/greenville-delta-democrat-times-sep-17-1944-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “High Winds Lash Jersey, Long Island. Troy Record, NY. 9-15-1944, p. 1. Accessed 2-4-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/troy-record-sep-15-1944-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Hurricane Death Toll Rises to 28.” Albuquerque Journal, NM, 9-16-1944, p. 1. Accessed 2-2-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/albuquerque-journal-sep-16-1944-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Hurricane is Still Threat to East Coast.” The Salisbury Times, MD. 9-13-1944, p. 1. Accessed 2-2-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/salisbury-times-sep-13-1944-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Hurricane Takes Two Lives in State of Maine.” Biddeford Daily Journal, ME. 9-15-1944, p. 1. Accessed 2-2-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/biddeford-daily-journal-sep-15-1944-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Hurricane Victim to be Buried at Manteo.” Gastonia Daily Gazette, NC, 9-18-1944, p1. Accessed 2-3-2020: https://newspaperarchive.com/gastonia-daily-gazette-sep-18-1944-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Hurricane Winds East of Bahamas,” The Salisbury Times, MD. 9-11-1944, p. 1. Accessed 2-2-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/salisbury-times-sep-11-1944-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Lightship is Reported Lost in Hurricane. Toll of Dead in New England 27.” Biddeford Daily Journal, ME. 9-19-1944, p. 1. Accessed 2-4-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/biddeford-daily-journal-sep-19-1944-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “List Ten Dead as Hurricane Whips into New England.” Daily Kennebec Journal, ME, 9-15-1944, pp. 1, 5. Accessed 2-2-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/daily-kennebec-journal-sep-15-1944-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Norfolk Gets Set for Storm.” Gastonia Daily Gazette, NC. 9-14-1944, p. 1. Accessed 2-2-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gastonia-daily-gazette-sep-14-1944-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Tropical Storm Warnings to Coastal Residents of State.” The High Point Enterprise, NC, 9-12-1944, p. 1. Accessed 2-2-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/high-point-enterprise-sep-12-1944-p-1/

 

Barnes, Jay. North Carolina’s Hurricane History (3rd edition). Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

 

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

 

Blake, Eric S., Edward N. Rappaport, and Christopher W. Landsea. The Deadliest, Costliest, and Most Intense United States Cyclones From 1851 to 2006. Miami, FL: National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center, April 15, 2007 update, 45 pages. Accessed at: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/Deadliest_Costliest.shtml

 

Cressman, Robert J. The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II, Part 773.  Naval Institute Press, 2000, 367 pages.  Partially digitized by Google at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=1EV4r9PlB8IC&dq=United+States+Navy+Minesweeper+409&source=gbs_navlinks_s

 

Dawes, Cdr. Robert A. Jr. (USN, Ret.). The Dragon’s Breath: Hurricane At Sea. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1996.

 

Douglas, Marjory Stoneman.  Hurricane. New York: Rinehart & Company, Inc., 1958, 393 pp.

 

Dunn, Gordon E. and Banner I. Miller. Atlantic Hurricanes (Revised Edition). Baton Rouge LA:  Louisiana State University Press, 1964, 377 pages.

 

Gelber, Ben. The Pennsylvania Weather Book. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002. Google preview accessed 1-4-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=34RKv9fMFo4C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Harm’s Way: Response Recovery Resilience. Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944. Accessed 2-4-2020 at: https://www.harmswaystormstories.com/storm-of-1944

 

Hebert, Paul J., J.D. Jarrell, Max Mayfield. The Deadliest, Costliest, and Most Intense United States Hurricanes of This Century (NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS-NHC-31). Miami, FL:  National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Feb 1993, 41 pages.

 

HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II. “Chapter VI: 1944.” Accessed 2-1-2020 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1944.html

 

International News Service. “Hurricane Death Toll 51: Damage is $65 Millions.” Syracuse Herald-American, NY, 9-17-1944, p. 10. Accessed 2-3-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/syracuse-herald-american-sep-17-1944-p-10/

 

Jarrell, Jerry D., Max Mayfield, Edward N. Rappaport, Christopher W. Landsea.  The Deadliest, Costliest, and Most Intense United States Hurricanes From 1900 to 2000 (And Other Frequently Requested Hurricane Facts) (NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS TPC-1). Miami, FL:  NOAA NWS and Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, October 2001 Update.  Accessed at: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Landsea/deadly/index.html

 

Larsen, Erik. “Shore battered by Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944.” App.com (USA Today Network). 9-11-2017. Accessed 2-4-2020 at: https://www.app.com/story/news/history/erik-larsen/2017/09/11/great-atlantic-hurricane-1944/643530001/

 

Ludlum, David M. The American Weather Book. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1982.

 

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office, Philadelphia/Mount Holly. “Historical Weather Facts for the Philadelphia/Mt. Holly, NJ Forecast Area.” Mount Holly, NJ: NWS FO, 10-17-2005 update. Accessed 1-4-2018 at: https://www.weather.gov/phi/hist_phi

 

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office, Wakefield VA. The Hurricane History of Central and Eastern Virginia. Weather.gov Accessed 2-4-2020 at: https://www.weather.gov/media/akq/miscNEWS/hurricanehistory.pdf

 

Naval Historical Center. “Frequently Asked Questions,  Casualties: U.S. Navy and Coast Guard Vessels, Sunk or Damaged Beyond Repair During World War II, 7 December 1941 – 1 October 1945.”  Wash. DC: Dept. of the Navy. At:  http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq82-1.htm

 

Naval Historical Center. “Frequently Asked Questions. Typhoons and Hurricanes:  The Effects of Cyclonic Winds on U.S. Naval Operations.” Washington, DC: Department of the Navy, September 23, 2005. Accessed at:  http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq102-1.htm

 

Naval Historical Center. “U.S. Navy Ships Lost in Selected Storm/Weather Related Incidents.”  Washington, DC:  Dept. of  the Navy, June 3, 2005. At: http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq102-2.htm

 

NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive. “YMS-409.” Contributed by Glen Hendricks, with photos from James Elliot Gaston.

Nese, Jon and Glenn Schwartz. The Philadelphia Area Weather Book, including Delaware, the Poconos, and the Jersey Shore. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2002.

 

New England Historical Society. The Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 Shows Forewarned is Forearmed. 2017. Accessed 2-4-2020 at: https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/how-the-1st-storm-chasers-saved-new-england-from-the-1944-great-atlantic-hurricane/

 

New York Times. “Connecticut Storm Death Toll 3; Crop Losses Put at $2,000,000.” 9-16-1944, p. 11. Accessed 2-3-2020 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/09/16/85160752.html?pageNumber=11

 

New York Times. “Hurricane Tears Destructive Path 500 Miles on Coast.” 9-15-1944, p. 1. Accessed 2-3-2020 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/09/15/issue.html

 

New York Times. “Storm Toll Rises to 40 Along Coast.” 9-17-1944, p. 34. Accessed 2-3-2020 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/09/17/85161266.html?pageNumber=34

 

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). 70th Anniversary of the Great Atlantic hurricane (webpage). 9-15-2014. Accessed 2-4-2020 at: https://noaahrd.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/70th-anniversary-of-the-great-atlantic-hurricane/

 

Norcross, Bryan. Hurricane Almanac: The Essential Guide to Storms Past, Present, and Future.  NY: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2007.

 

Ostrom, Thomas P. The United States Coast Guard and National Defense: A History from World War I to the Present. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2012. Partially Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=Mk1kpP0X3A0C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA. “The dirty dozen of New England hurricanes.” 6-7-2011. Accessed 2-4-2020 at: https://www.patriotledger.com/x1725636469/The-dirty-dozen-of-New-England-hurricanes

 

Radigan, Joseph M. NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive. “YMS-409, YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper.” Accessed 9-4-2016 at: http://www.navsource.org/archives/11/19409.htm

 

Rappaport, Edward N. and Jose Fernandez-Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1994 (NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS NHC-47). Coral Gables, FL: National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, January 1995, 42 pages. Accessed 8-20-2017 at:  http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/NWS-NHC-1995-47.pdf

 

Sav, Thomas G. Natural Disasters: Some Empirical and Economic Considerations (Final Report, NBSIR 74-473). Washington, DC: National Bureau of Standards, Institute for Applied Technology, Center for Building Technology, Building Economics Section, February 1974, 74 pages. Accessed 7-12-2017 at: http://www.fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/build74/PDF/b74006.pdf

 

Smith, Jeremie. MEMA: A Look Back at the Most Notable Hurricanes to Hit New England (webpage). “The Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 (Sept. 14-15, 1944).”6-13-2011. Accessed 2-4-2020 at: https://patch.com/massachusetts/medfield/mema-a-look-back-at-the-most-notable-hurricanes-to-hi12a5f21280

 

Sumner, H. C. “North Atlantic Hurricanes and Tropical Disturbances of 1944.” Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 72, No. 12, 3-5-1945, pp. 237-239. Accessed at:  http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/lib/lib1/nhclib/mwreviews/1944.pdf

 

Sumner, H. C. “The North Atlantic Hurricane of September 8-16, 1944.” Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 72, No. 9, 12-5-1944, pp. 187-189. Accessed 11-13-2017 at:  http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/lib/lib1/nhclib/mwreviews/1944.pdf

 

Uboat.net. Allied Warships. “USS YMS-409 (YMS-409).” Accessed 3-11-2017 at: https://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/9827.html

 

United Press. “Hurricane Damage Heavy Along Coast.” The Daily Independent, Kannapolis, NC, 9-17-1944, B6. Accessed 2-3-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/kannapolis-daily-independent-sep-17-1944-p-14/

 

United Press. “Hurricane Damage Heavy in N.E.” Lowell Sun, MA, 9-16-1944, p. 32. Accessed 2-2-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/lowell-sun-sep-16-1944-p-32/

 

United Press. “Hurricane Toll Reported at 37.” Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, IA, 9-17-1944, p. 4. Accessed 2-3-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/dubuque-telegraph-herald-sep-17-1944-p-4/

 

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United States Coast Guard. The Coast Guard at War. “Lost Cutters…CGC Bedloe (WSC-128), CGC Jackson (WSC-142).”  Washington, DC:  U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, Historical Section, Public Information Division, May 1, 1949. Transcribed and formatted for HTML by Patrick Clancey, HyperWar Foundation. Accessed at:  http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/tande/WSC/wsc142-lc.html

 

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Wikipedia. “1944 Great Atlantic Hurricane.” Accessed 2018 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1944_Great_Atlantic_Hurricane

 

Wrecksite. “USS YMS-409 (+1944).” Website accessed 2-1-2020 at: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?137056

 

[1] Sep 14, 1944: “A very destructive hurricane swept across Cape Hatteras, side swiped NJ and LI, and crossed SE MA. The hurricane killed more than 400 persons, mainly at sea…”

[2] Notes 64 deaths and includes footnote noting: “Total including offshore losses is 390.”

[3] Notes “Some 344 of these lost on ships at sea.”

[4] “…390 sailors died when several sank, including a destroyer, the USS Warrington.” [Our figures show 341 maritime deaths and 41-54 mainland deaths.]

[5] “390 deaths were attributed to this hurricane, most of which were at sea. The relatively low number of land deaths (46) was attributed to the well-executed warnings and evacuations.”

[6] Gives impression that this loss of life was at sea (which we doubt): “Most of its fury was spent out to sea where the death toll reached nearly 400 people lost on numerous ships.” Specifically names USCCG cutters Bedloe and Jackson, Vineyard Sound lightship, USN minesweeper YMS-409 and USN destroyer Warrington.

[7] Sumner: “A release by the public relations office of the fifth Naval district lists 344 men, dead or missing, from 5 vessels wrecked and sunk during the hurricane of Sept. 8-16, 1944. The casualties were from the destroyer Warrington, the Coast Guard cutters Jackson and Bedloe, the light vessel Vineyard Sound, and the minesweeper YMS-409. The cutters capsized and sank while protecting a Liberty Ship torpedoed off the North Carolina coast, and the light vessel dragged anchor and sank about 2 miles to the northeastward of her station off Marth’s Vineyard, Mass.” [Blanchard note: We choose to use loss-of-life numbers which were assigned to these craft afterwards.]

[8] Difference of one for the Warrington (247 or 248); difference of one for YMS-409 (32 or 33); difference of one for the USCG Cutter Jackson (21-22); and using Sumner figure of 344 as high end of range — perhaps there were one to three maritime deaths other than the five USN ships, or he has differing figures for the five ships noted.

[9] Interesting to note that other versions of The Deadliest…, and other sources note 46 deaths. It is possible that the number 46 was mistakenly entered as 64 — the numbers 4 and 6 being inverted. For this reason we do not use.

[10] One sees the range and uncertainty derived primarily from looking at newspaper reporting at the time. It is quite possible that there were exactly 46 deaths, such as reported by NWS/NOAA (Hebert/Jarrell/Mayfield), and by Sumner in Monthly Weather Review.

[11] New York Times. “Connecticut Storm Death Toll 3…” 9-16-1944, p. 11.

[12] AP. “Connecticut Wind-Battered and Wet Today – But Very, Very Thankful.” Lowell Sun, MA. 9-15-1944, p. 1.

[13] New York Times. “Connecticut Storm Death Toll 3…” 9-16-1944, p. 11.

[14] AP. “High Winds Lash Jersey, Long Island. Troy Record, NY. 9-15-1944, p. 23. Though Bowers is about sixty miles down the Delaware Bay from Wilmington, it is conceivable that the two reports concern the same fatality.

[15] New York Times. “Hurricane Tears Destructive Path 500 Miles on Coast.” 9-15-1944, p. 1.

[16] Associated Press. “Hurricane Takes Two Lives in State of Maine.” Biddeford Daily Journal, ME. 9-15-1944, p. 1.

[17] Associated Press. “Hurricane Takes Two Lives in State of Maine.” Biddeford Daily Journal, ME. 9-15-1944, p. 1.

[18] We suspect that Sumner, like the press at the time, included the Vineyard Sound loss-of-life (reported in press as 11) in the Massachusetts total. See: AP. “Lightship is Reported Lost in Hurricane. Toll of Dead in New England 27.” Biddeford Daily Journal, ME. 9-19-1944, p. 1. That is understandable, but we choose to include these losses from the Vineyard Sound in the Maritime section.

[19] AP. Cape Cod Communities, Hit by Hurricane, Stride Back to Normalcy.” Lowell Sun, MA, 9-18-1944, p. 8.

[20] Larsen, Erik. “Shore battered by Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944.” App.com (USA Today Network), 9-11-2017.

[21] AP. “Atlantic City, Other Coastal Resorts Hit Hard by Hurricane.” Bluefield Daily Telegraph, WV. 9-15-1944, p1.

[22] AP. “Death Toll 37 in Northeastern Gale.” Delta Democrat-Times, Greenville, MS, 9-17-1944, 1.

[23] United Press. “Hurricane Damage Heavy in N.E. Lowell Sun, MA, 9-16-1944, p. 32.

[24] Associated Press. “Hurricane Death Toll Rises to 28.” Albuquerque Journal, NM, 9-16-1944, p. 1.

[25] New York Times. “Hurricane Tears Destructive Path 500 Miles on Coast.” 9-15-1944, p. 1.

[26] AP. “Atlantic City, Other Coastal Resorts Hit Hard by Hurricane.” Bluefield Daily Telegraph, WV. 9-15-1944, p1; Associated Press. “High Winds Lash Jersey, Long Island. Troy Record, NY. 9-15-1944, p. 1. This latter article gives the victim’s age as 55 and notes that the street car motorman “was electrocuted when he stepped from his car and onto a live wire pulled down by a tree that had fallen on the tracks.”

[27] Associated Press. “High Winds Lash Jersey, Long Island. Troy Record, NY. 9-15-1944, p. 23.

[28] Associated Press. “High Winds Lash Jersey, Long Island. Troy Record, NY. 9-15-1944, p. 23.

[29] Associated Press. “High Winds Lash Jersey, Long Island. Troy Record, NY. 9-15-1944, p. 1.

[30] Associated Press. “High Winds Lash Jersey, Long Island. Troy Record, NY. 9-15-1944, p. 23.

[31] Associated Press. “High Winds Lash Jersey, Long Island. Troy Record, NY. 9-15-1944, p. 23.

[32] Associated Press. “High Winds Lash Jersey, Long Island. Troy Record, NY. 9-15-1944, p. 23.

[33] New York Times. “Hurricane Tears Destructive Path 500 Miles on Coast.” 9-15-1944, p. 1.

[34] Associated Press. “High Winds Lash Jersey, Long Island. Troy Record, NY. 9-15-1944, p. 1.

[35] United Press. “Hurricane Damage Heavy Along Coast.” The Daily Independent, Kannapolis, NC, 9-17-1944, B6; Associated Press. “Hurricane Victim to be Buried at Manteo.” Gastonia Daily Gazette, NC, 9-18-1944, p. 1.

[36] The National Weather Service, Wakefield VA, office notes no fatalities in its note on this hurricane in: The Hurricane History of Central and Eastern Virginia. Weather.gov

[37] Wreck Site notes the “YMS-409 and her 33 crew disappeared in the Great Atlantic Hurricane, off the Diamond Shoals [off Cape Hatteras, NC], Sept. 1944. Cites: R.J. Cressman. Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in WW II. Naval Hist. Center, 1999.

[38] U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command notes the date of loss and location as North Atlantic. NavSource Online lists compliment of 33, and writes: “Foundered 12 September 1944 off Cape Hatteras, NC in the Great Atlantic hurricane of 1944 with the loss of all hands.”

[39] Writes: “On 14 September 1944 she was ordered, along with sister cutter Bedloe, to go to the assistance of torpedoed merchant vessel George Ade off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, in the midst of a powerful hurricane. Both cutters sank in the heavy seas. The Jackson lost 22 of her crew.”

[40] Vineyard Sound lies between the Islands of Martha’s Vineyard to the east and Naushon Island to the west.

[41] Berman notes the date of loss as September 14.

[42] The Weather Channel, “Weather Calendar” (Atlanta GA, 1988- 1990).

[43] 22 fatalities in Chesapeake Bay area and 390 in New England equals 412 in all.

[44] National Climatic Center

[45] National Hurricane Center

[46] Ludlum, David, editor of “Weatherwise” magazine (Princeton NJ).

[47] The Weather Channel, “Weather Calendar” (Atlanta GA, 1988- 1990).

[48] USN site (Casualties: U.S. Navy) notes “USS YMS-409 foundered in the North Atlantic, 12 September 1944.”

[49] “Launched and commissioned as Antietam, she was first stationed in Boston, where she served out of until 1935. She was assigned to law enforcement and search and rescue duties and also broke ice when needed.  She then transferred to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and saw service on the Great Lakes.  She was sent to Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1940 where her armament was upgraded at the plant of Tietjen & Lang.  She was assigned to the EASTSEAFRON (Eastern Sea Frontier) and was stationed out of Stapleton, Staten Island, where she saw service as a convoy escort vessel along the eastern seaboard. “ (USCG. “Bedloe, 1927”)

[50] Patrol Bomber, Martin (maritime patrol flying boat).

1944 – Sep 1, USAAF B-24J emer. lndg. attempt crash ~Muroc Army Air Field, CA –all 10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-26-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–10  Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V3, Aug 1944-Dec 1945, p. 902.

–10  United Press. “Crew of 10 Perish in Bomber Crash.” Oakland Tribune, CA. 9-3-1944, p. 1.

Narrative Information

Baugher: “Consolidated B-24J-25-CO Liberator….73234 (421st AAF BU) crashed 5 mi S of Muroc Field, CA Sep 1, 1944. All aboard killed.” (Baugher. 1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-70686 to 42-91973). 5-18-2011 revision.)

 

Mireles: “At 0718, a Con­solidated B-24J crashed five miles southeast of Muroc Army Air Field, California, killing the crew of ten. The airplane took off from Muroc Army Air Field on a high- altitude formation and camera mission. Soon after take­off anti climbing out of the area, the number-four en­gine began “acting up.” The pilot elected to return to the field and radioed Muroc Tower that he was com­ing in. Moments later, the number-three engine began losing rpm. At 0717, the pilot radioed that he was not going to make the field and he was going to attempt an emergency forced landing on Muroc Dry Lake. The pilot then radioed that he was not going to make the dry lakebed. Personnel in the control tower spotted the B-24 as it attempted to shoot its emergency forced landing. The B-24 struck the ground on its landing gear at a slight glide angle, bouncing back into the air for about 150 yards. The airplane then struck the ground hard and began skidding sideways. The air­plane broke up and burst into flames as it skidded for about 150 yards, coming to rest approximately 300 yards from the edge of the dry lakebed. Investigation re­vealed that all B-24 pilots who had flown the subject air­plane complained that the airplane could not climb sat­isfactorily or operate well on three engines. Investigators noted that the B-24 pilots at Muroc had similar per­formance problems with all B-24J model airplanes in the 42-73377 — 42-73399 block.”  (Mireles 2006, pp. 902-903.)

Newspaper

 

Sep 2, UP: “Muroc Army Air Base, Sept. 2. – (U.P.) – The entire 10-man crew of a B-24 Liberator bomber was killed yesterday when the plane crashed near here, air base officers said today. The dead included F-O William, 2nd Lt. Lawrence D. Lampton, 25, Libby, Mont., and Cpl. Robert L. Metcalf, Denver, Colo.” (United Press. “Crew of 10 Perish in Bomber Crash.” Oakland Tribune, CA. 9-3-1944, p. 1.)

Sources

 

Baugher, Joseph F. 1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-70686 to 42-91973). 5-18-2011 revision. Accessed 12-16-2011 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_4.html

 

Mireles, Anthony J.  Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 3:  August 1944 – December 1945). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.

 

United Press. “Crew of 10 Perish in Bomber Crash.” Oakland Tribune, CA. 9-3-1944, p. 1. Accessed 3-27-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/oakland-tribune-sep-03-1944-p-2/

1944 — Aug 28, USAAF C54A landing crash/hit wires kills 5 on ground, Prestwick, Scotland–25

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-28-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

—  26  Billings Gazette, MT.  “Butte Army Nurse Killed in Crash.” 9-1-1944, 6.

—  26  Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. “Lt. Col…Loeb…Killed…Crash in Scotland.” 9-11-1944

—  26  Huntingdon Daily News, PA. “26 Dead in Crash of Big Mail Plane.” 8-28-1944, p. 1.

—  25  airforcehistoryindex.org; accessed at: http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=

—  25  Aviation Safety Network. USAAF Douglas C-54A-1-DC, near Glasgow-Prestwick AP

—  25  Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, p. 29.

—  25  Wikipedia. “Prestwick.” 1-16-2012 modification.[1]

Narrative Information

Gero: “…c. 01:00 — No. 42-72171.

 

“Having completed a transatlantic crossing, the four-engine transport crashed and burned in a residential area while attempting to land at Prestwick airport. All 20 service personnel aboard (14 passengers and a crew of six) and five persons on the ground, including a 6-year-old girl who had been sleeping in her home at the time of the accident, were killed. The crash occurred in early morning darkness and conditions of poor visibility, but no further information was released as to its cause or related factors.”  (Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, p. 29.)

 

Newspapers

 

Aug 28: “London, Aug 28. – Twenty-six persons were killed today when a plane, believed an American Sky Master mail plane from the United States, crashed into a dwelling at Prestwick, Scotland. The victims included seven crewmen, 14 passengers and five occupants of the demolished house. The plane was understood to have circled twice before it crashed. Prestwick is one of the world’s busiest air junctions and the eastern terminal of the Trans-Atlantic ferry route.”  (Huntingdon Daily News, PA. “26 Dead in Crash of Big Mail Plane.” 8-28-1944, 1.)

 

Aug 31: “Butte, Aug. 31. – (AP) – Butte’s first woman casualty of the war and one of the first in Montana is Second Lieutenant Vivianna Cronin, 26, army flight nurse who died in a plane crash in Scotland, Sunday night – just a week after she was here to attend the funeral of her 14-year-old brother….Lieutenant Cronin had been on duty since invasion day June 6, helping in the removal of wounded from the Normandy beachhead.  She requested transatlantic assignment in hope she would have a chance to visit her brother, Jackie, who had been ill more than a year.  Her request was granted August 12, but the boy died before she arrived here August 16.  She attended the funeral and left Butte on a return flight to her base in England August 21.  Her parents expressed belief she may have been one of 26 killed when an army transport plane crashed into a house at Prestwick, Scotland.” (Billings Gazette, MT.  “Butte Army Nurse Killed in Crash.” 9-1-1944, 6.)

 

Sep 2: “Washington, Sept. 2 (INS) — The war department made public Saturday the names of 21 persons killed when a C-54 transport plane crashed at Prestwick, Scotland, Aug. 27. The department said the plane was completing a transatlantic crossing from the United States when it struck wires a half mile from the Prestwick air base, turned over and crashed into near-by houses, killing some of the occupants. The passengers aboard the transport included Ernest Jesch, Fallon, Nev.”  (Salt Lake Tribune, UT.  “Nevada Airman Dies in Scotland Crash.” 9-3-1944, 13.)

 

Sep 3: New York, (UP) – Prof. Harry J. Berman, 42, former curator of the Harvard university mineralogical museum, was killed on Aug. 27 when the plane in which he was flying crashed into a house in Prestwick, Scotland, according to information from the war department received by business associates here.  A nationally known mineralogist, Berman was on leave from Harvard for war work with the Reeves Sound Laboratories, Inc., and was conducting a technical study for the RAF and the American 8th and 9th air forces in Scotland when he was killed.”  (Hayward Review, CA.  “Harvard Mineralogist Killed in Crash.” 9-2-1944, 4.)

 

“Washington, Sept. 2. – (INS) The names of 20 persons who were killed when a…transport plane crashed at Prestwick, Scotland, on August 27 were made public late today by the war department….The crew, all employes of the air transport command, included Glen Golden, pilot, Ft. Worth, Texas.  The passengers aboard the plane included Lt. Col. Norman A. L. Loeb and Lt. Col. Madison C. Schepps, Long Beach, Calif.”  (Long Beach Independent, CA. “L.B. Officers Die in Scotland Crash.” 9-3-1944, p. 21.)

 

Sep 11: “Lieut. Col. Norman A. Loeb, a former Dunkirk resident and a graduate of West Point Military academy, was killed in an airplane crash at Prestwick, Scotland, last Sunday, according to word received by relatives here from the war department….Seven crewmen and 14 passengers in the plane together with five occupants of the demolished house lost their lives.” (Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. “Lt. Col. N. A. Loeb is Killed in Plane Crash in Scotland.” 9-11-1944, 4.)

 

Airforcehistoryindex.org: U.S. Fatalities:

 

BERMAN, HARRY;

BIGOTTO, L.;

CRONIN, VIVANNA;

ERICKSON, GLENN K.;

FARLEY, WILLIAM C.;

FISSEL, JOHN E. JR;

FLEMMING, BRAXTON G.;

FORTENBERRY, HORACE J.;

GOLDEN, G.;

GORSKI, A.;

HOGSETT, BURT D.;

JESCH, ERNEST E.;

KIRK, THOMAS W.;

KRUSI, JOHN B.;

LOEB, NORMAN A.;

MCGREW, D.;

OGLESBY, B. S.;

SCHEPPS, MADISON C.;

SCOTT, A.;

VENABE, EUGENE R.;

 

Prestwick, Scotland civilian fatalities:

 

HANDYSIDE, ROBERT A.;

HASWELL, IRENE

KINNEAR, THOMAS;

MAITLAND, THOMAS GEORGE;

SNOWDEN, WILLIAM K. 

(airforcehistoryindex.org; accessed at: http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=20503 )

 

Sources

 

airforcehistoryindex.org; accessed at: http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=

 

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1944. USAAF Douglas C-54A-1-DC crash near Glasgow-Prestwick Airport, 8-28-1944. Accessed 3-28-2024 at: https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19440828-2

 

Billings Gazette, MT. “Butte Army Nurse Killed in Crash.” 9-1-1944, 6. Accessed at:  http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=66127905

 

Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. “Lt. Col. N. A. Loeb is Killed in Plane Crash in Scotland.” 9-11-1944, 4. Accessed at:  http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=36049450

 

Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. UK and Newbury Park, CA: Patrick Stephens Limited, an imprint of Hayes Publishing, 1999. 

 

Hayward Review, CA.  “Harvard Mineralogist Killed in Crash.” 9-2-1944, 4. Accessed at:  http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=47162842

 

Huntingdon Daily News, PA. “26 Dead in Crash of Big Mail Plane.” 8-28-1944, p. 1. Accessed at:  http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=102191452

 

Long Beach Independent, CA. “L.B. Officers Die in Scotland Crash.” 9-3-1944, p. 21. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=49964809

 

Salt Lake Tribune, UT. “Nevada Airman Dies in Scotland Crash.” 9-3-1944, 13. Accessed at:  http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=90280296

 

Wikipedia. “Prestwick.” 1-16-2012 modification. At: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prestwick

 

 

[1] Notes 20 crew and passenger fatalities and 5 on-ground civilian fatalities, but provides no source citation.

1944 – Aug 27, USAAF B-17G crash in thunderstorm, 20M from Bay St. Louis, MS  –all 10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-27-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–10  Biloxi Daily Herald, MS. “Ten Killed in Bomber Crash West of Lyman.” 8-29-1944, p. 1.

–10  Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V3, Aug 1944-Dec 1945, p. 900.

Narrative Information

Mireles: “At 2006, a Boeing B-17G flying in poor weather crashed 20 miles north of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, killing the crew of ten…. Investigators stated,

 

2Lt. Harold S. Cline took off to fly a Local Celestial navigation mis­sion and was assigned an altitude of 3,500 feet, and was to fly from Gulfport [Mississippi] to Bogalusa [Louisiana] and return. After clearing the tower, the aircraft proceeded on course to Bogalusa and after ten minutes on course ran into a thunderstorm at which time the pilot lost control and crashed. By the weather reports, there were severe thunderstorms on the out­side of the local flying area.

 

“Investigation revealed that the airplane had slammed into the ground at a steep angle in a swampy area with few trees, exploding vio­lently into flames upon impact.”  (Mireles 2006, p. 900.)

 

Newspaper

 

Aug 29: “Ten members of a B-17 crew in training at Gulfport Field were killed Sunday night about 8 o’clock when their plane crashed a few minutes after take-off in semi-wooded and marshy country approximately 30 miles west of Lyman. Next of kin were notified Monday afternoon by Lt. Col. George L. Holcomb, commanding officer. The dead:

 

2nd Lt. Harold Shepherd Cline, 23, pilot, Toccoa, Ga.;

2nd Lt. Francis Charles Feascl, 23, co-pilot, RFD 3, Fostoria, Ohio;

2nd Lt. David Grolnic, 22, bombardier, Roxbury, Mass.;

2nd Lt. Paul Bishop Lyles, 20, navigator, Wilson, NC;

Cpl. Robert Royce Cole, 19, engineer, Anson, Texas;

Cpl. Charles William Marvin, 23, radio operator, RR 2, Kinsman, Ohio;

Cpl. Norman Napoleon Rocheleau, 21, armorer-gunner, Holyoke, Mass.;

Cpl. James McLean Hummel, 18, gunner, Garrison, ND;

Cpl. Harold Ross Van Marter, 26, gunner, Philadelphia, Pa.;

Pfc. Raymond Theodore Samodel, 25, gunner, Ansonia, Conn.

 

“….Cause of the accident is undetermined. The plane was one of several which took off a few minutes before 8 o’clock on a local night combat training mission. No distress signal was received by the flight control room, and the first indication of trouble came when the plane failed to make its routine radio report.

 

“The wreckage was located Monday morning from the air, 42 miles from Gulfport Field by the shortest road route. A watch on the wrist of one of the crew members indicated that the crash occurred at 8:05 p.m., and from the demolished condition of the plane it was believed that all members of the crew were killed instantly. The crew had completed ten weeks of flying training….” (Biloxi Daily Herald, MS. “Ten Killed in Bomber Crash West of Lyman.” 8-29-1944, pp. 1 & 7.)

Sources

 

Biloxi Daily Herald, MS. “Ten Killed in Bomber Crash West of Lyman.” 8-29-1944, pp. 1 & 7. Accessed 3-27-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/biloxi-daily-herald-aug-29-1944-p-1/

 

Mireles, Anthony J.  Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 3:  August 1944 – December 1945). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1944 – Aug 23, USAAF B-24/3 crew, hits thunderstorm, crashes into school, Freckleton/58, UK–61

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-19-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–61  Aviation Safety Network. USAAF B-24 test flight crash into Freckleton village UK, 8-23-1944

            —  3  USAAF B-24 Liberator

            –38  Children in Holy Trinity School infants’ wing. {ages 4-6)

            —  6  Adults in Holy Trinity School infants’ wing.

            –14  Sad Sack Snack Bar [Five were American servicemen. (United Press. 8-27-1944).]

–61  Hedtke, James R. The Freckleton, England, Air Disaster. McFarland: Jefferson, NC, 2014.

–61  Wikipedia. “Freckleton air disaster.” 3-15-2024. Accessed 3-19-2024. (Links to casualty list)

 

Narrative Information

 

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. ASN Wikibase Occurrence #25233:

“Date and Time:          Wednesday 23 August 1944, 10:47

“Type:                         Consolidated B-24H-20CF Liberator

“Owner/operator:        BAD-2 [Base Air Depot No.2] USAAF

“Registration:              42-50291

“Fatalities:                   Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3

“Other fatalities:          58

“Aircraft damage:       Destroyed

“Location:                   Freckleton village, Lancashire – United Kingdom

“Phase:                        Approach

“Nature:                       Test

“Departure airport:      RAF Warton / AAF Sta 582

“Destination airport:    RAF Warton / AAF Sta 582

“Narrative:

 

“The B-24H Liberator was one of two that took off from Warton at about 10:30 am for test flights after refurbishment. Upon the approach of a thunderstorm with heavy rain and a wind of about 60 m.p.h. the Liberators were instructed to land. 42-50291 piloted by 1st Lt J. A. Bloemendal made an approach to runway 08 at Warton before breaking off to go around.

 

“Moments later in blinding rain the Liberator, nicknamed ” Classy Chassis II “, crashed in a nearly vertical bank into the village of Freckleton just east of the airfield. The right wing struck a building and broke off while the fuselage smashed through the Holy Trinity School infants’ wing, killing 38 children and 6 adults. The fuselage also demolished 3 houses and a cafe patronised by personnel from the air base. Fourteen died in the Sad Sack Snack Bar.

 

“Blazing fuel added to the horror of the crash.

 

“A total of 61 persons died in this tragedy, 38 of them children.”

 

Newspapers

 

Aug 23, AP: “Associated Press. London, Aug. 23.

 

“An American bomber crashed flaming into the Lancashire village of Freckleton today, killing at least 50 persons, 34 of them small children at a church school. The toll may be much higher. The Press Association (British) said the plane was a Liberator and that at least three of its crew were killed. American troops joint in rescue work in the flaming wreckage of one of England’s worst sky-ground tragedies. At least three American soldiers were among the adults killed.

 

“An eyewitness said the whole center of the tiny village of 1,438 inhabitants became a ‘sea of lames,’ and added: ‘I looked out from a shop window. There was a flash in the air and the plane, which was flying low, caught fire. It turned over on its back and struck the top of the school and then flashed across the road onto the snack bar.’” (Associated Press. “Plane Hits School. At Least 50 Killed.” Hamilton Daily News Journal, OH. 8-23-1944, p. 1.)

 

Aug 24, AP: “Freckleton, England, Aug. 24 (AP) – With 54 bodies removed already, fear was expressed today that 39 more persons might be buried in the wreckage of a school and nearby snack bar destroyed yesterday when an American Liberator bomber crashed in this Lancashire gardening village. Known dead included 35 children – all but six of the village’s 41 youngsters between four and six years of age. The other victims include nine American serviceman…[blurred line]. The tragedy occurred when the Liberator was caught in a sudden storm on a local flight.” (Associated Press. “Remove 54 Bodies After Plane Crash.” Evening Times, Cumberland, MD. 8-24-1944, p. 1.)

 

Aug 25, AP: “Freckleton, England, Aug. 25 – (AP) – The death toll resulting from the crash of a Liberator bomber in this Lancashire village mounted to 57 today as the townsfolk considered restricting admission to the mass funeral tomorrow by issuing tickets. A six-year-old child died during the night, bringing to 36 the number of children killed in the accident. The ticket proposal was advanced to assure families of the victims places in the village church, which has a seating capacity of only 250.” (Associated Press. “Bomber Crash Toll Mounts; Total 57.” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL. 8-25-1944, p. 1.)

 

Aug 26, AP: “Freckleton, England, Aug. 26. – A 65-year-old school teacher and one of her 6-year-old pupils died today of injuries suffered in the crash of an American Liberator upon Freckleton’s schoolhouse Wednesday, increasing the death toll to 59. Thirty-seven school children between the ages of 4 and 6 years who died in the accident will be buried tomorrow in one grave dug by United States troops in the village churchyard.” (Associated Press. “Death Toll Rises to 59 in Town Hit by Plane.” The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.,  8-26-1944, B-10.)

 

Sep 8, AP: “Kirkham, England, Sept. 8 – (AP) – The American bomber which killed 60 persons in its flaming plunge into Freckleton Aug. 23 was struck by lightning during a violent storm, it was testified at an inquest which returned a verdict of death by misadventure. Nine American soldiers and 38 children were among the killed.” (Associated Press. “Bulletins.” Warren Times-Mirrow, PA. 9-8-1944, p. 1.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Bomber Crash Toll Mounts; Total 57.” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL. 8-25-1944, p. 1. Accessed 3-19-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/sarasota-herald-tribune-aug-25-1944-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Bulletins.” Warren Times-Mirrow, PA. 9-8-1944, p. 1. Accessed 3-19-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/warren-times-mirror-sep-08-1944-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Death Toll Rises to 59 in Town Hit by Plane.” The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.,  8-26-1944, B-10. Accessed 3-19-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/washington-dc-washington-evening-star-aug-26-1944-p-21/

 

Associated Press. “Plane Hits School. At Least 50 Killed.” Hamilton Daily News Journal, OH. 8-23-1944, p. 1. Accessed 3-19-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/hamilton-daily-news-journal-aug-23-1944-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Remove 54 Bodies After Plane Crash.” Evening Times, Cumberland, MD. 8-24-1944, p. 1. Accessed 3-19-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/cumberland-evening-times-aug-24-1944-p-10/

 

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Network, Database. ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 25233, USAAF B-24 test flight crash into Freckleton village UK, 8-23-1944. Accessed 3-19-2024 at:

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/25233

 

Hedtke, James R. The Freckleton, England, Air Disaster: The B-24 Crash That Killed 38 Preschoolers and 23 Adults, August 23, 1944. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, NC, 2014. Google preview accessed 3-19-2024 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Freckleton_England_Air_Disaster/p1WoAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Hedtke,+James+R.+The+Freckleton,+England,+Air+Disaster.&printsec=frontcover

 

Wikipedia. “Freckleton air disaster.” 3-15-2024. Accessed 3-19-2024 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freckleton_air_disaster#CITEREFShakeshaft2001

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1944 – Aug 21, USAAF YB-29 possible engine fire/crash, 25M NE Alamogordo AB, NM–10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-28-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–10  AP. “10 Airmen die in bomber crash…Alamogordo Field.” Hobbs News Sun, NM, 8-23-1944, p.1.

–10  Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V3, Aug 1944-Dec 1945, p. 895.

Narrative Information

Mireles: “At 1100, a Boeing YB-29 crashed 25 miles northeast of the Army Air Base at Alamogordo, New Mexico, killing ten crewmembers. The airplane had taken off from Alam­ogordo AAB on a routine instrument training flight, man and a young boy observed the airplane flying at an altitude of approximately 3,000 feet agl with smoke and flames trailing. The airplane then nosed over, went out of control and then slammed into the ground in an inverted 60-degree dive, exploding violently into flames upon impact. Investigation revealed that the horizontal stabilizers, elevators and various other pieces separated from the airplane prior to impact. Investiga­tors could not determine the cause of the accident. It was later speculated that the B-29 suffered an in-flight fire in one or two engines, causing the flight crew to lose control of the airplane.”  (Mireles 2006, p. 895.)

Newspaper


Aug 23, AP: “Alamogordo, Aug. 23 (AP) – Names of 10 crewmen who were killed when their heavy bomber crashed 25 miles north of here Monday night were announced last night by Col. R. C. Wriston, commander at the Alamogordo army air base. The dead were:

 

Capt. Byron Rostick, Moody, Tex.;

Second Lt. Meyer Hodiss, Syracuse, N.Y.’

Second Lt. J. J. Higgins, Princeton, N.J.;

Second Lt. Jerome Frederick Muller, San Francisco;

Staff Sgt. Thomas Andrew Boyle, Providence, R. I.;

Sgt. John Richocen, Quakertown, Pa.;

Pfc. Camille Phillip Parenpeau, Keene, N.H.;

Pfc. Condalmerle Smith, Little Orleans, Md.;

Pfc. Benjamin Ellis Smith, Reidsville, Ga.’

Pvt. Irwin Handleman, Spring Falley, N.Y.”

 

(Associated Press. “10 Airmen Die in Bomber Crash Near Alamogordo Field.” Hobbs Daily News Sun, NM,8-23-1944, p. 1.)

Sources

 

Associated Press. “10 Airmen Die in Bomber Crash Near Alamogordo Field.” Hobbs Daily News Sun, NM,8-23-1944, p. 1. Accessed 3-28-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/hobbs-daily-news-sun-aug-23-1944-p-1/

 

Mireles, Anthony J.  Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 3:  August 1944 – December 1945). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.

1944 — Aug 21, two USAAF B-24J bombers in formation collide, near Model, CO      —     18

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-19-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–18  AP. “Three Ohioans Die in Colorado Crash.” Hamilton Daily News Journal, IN. 8-23-1944, 1.

–18  Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V3, Aug 1944-Dec 1945, p. 895.

Narrative Information

Mireles: “At 1009, two Consolidated B-24J airplanes collided in mid-air and crashed two miles east of Model, Colorado, killing 18 fliers. Bombardier 2Lt. Robert S. Clark was able to parachute to safety from B-24J #42-51517 and was un­injured….

 

“B-24 #42-51517 was flying in the number-one (lead) position and B-24 #42-99946 in the number-three position of the high squadron of an eighteen-ship formation that had taken off from Pueblo Army Air Base, Pueblo, Colorado, on a routine high-altitude formation mission. The formation had climbed to an altitude of about 20,000 feet msl ap­proximately 15 miles northeast of Trinidad, Colorado; the B-24 crews were waiting for a target-towing air­craft for a scheduled gunnery exercise. While waiting for the target tow-ship, the formation leader began ex­ecuting a series of shallow turns and mild evasive ac­tion maneuvers. A shallow turn to the right was com­menced. B-24J #42-99946 (number-three) overran his position in the turn and ended up flying abreast of B- 24J #42-51517 (number-one). Moments later, B-24J #42-99946 turned to the right in a steep (near verti­cal) bank and pulled up into B-24J #42-51517. The port wing of B-24J #42-51517 cut through the fuse­lage of B-24J #42-99946 at about the camera hatch, severing 42-99946’s tail. B-24J #42-51517’s port wing continued through 42-99946’s fuselage and into the center section. The port wing folded back toward the fuselage of 42-51517. The two airplanes then separated and 42-99946 exploded into flames, breaking into about five large pieces and several hundred smaller bits. The crewmembers of 42-99946 were ejected from the airplane as it broke up and cascaded to the ground. Many were not wearing parachutes. After great difficulty, Lt. Clark parachuted to safety through the nose wheel well as B-24J #42-51517 plunged to the ground in a diving slip to the left, exploding violently into flames upon impact. The bombardier stated that the airspeed indicator in the nose section indicated ap­proximately 350 mph when he exited the airplane.” (Mireles 2006, 895.)

Newspapers

 

Aug 21, INS: “Trinidad, Colo., Aug. 21 – (INS) – Two bombers collided in midair and crashed in the fields near Model, Colo., bringing death to at least 16 army flyers today. There were various reports on the number of survivors, ranging from one to four, with one survivor being tentatively identified as a Lieut. E. S. Clark. At a late hour, officials from the Pueblo, Col., army air base and the Trinidad prisoner of war camp were still investigating.

 

“One bomber plunged into a wheat field, setting it afire. Fire fighters from the Trinidad prisoner of war camp were summoned to put out the blaze. Several bodies and parachutes were scattered over various parts of the field. The second bomber came down in another field, located about a mile away. Its crew was killed outright.” (INS. “Midair Crash of Bombers Kill 16.” Long Beach Independent, CA. 8-22-1944, p. 1.)

 

Aug 23: “Pueblo, Colo., Aug. 23. (AP) – Three Ohioans were killed Monday in the collision of two bombers from the Pueblo air base near Model, Colo., which resulted in the deaths of 18 fliers, air base officials announced last night. The Ohioans killed were Capt. Roy J. Brock of Columbus; Flight Officer William J. Robbins, of Cincinnati, and Cpl. Carl E. Miller of Canton.” (AP. “Three Ohioans Die in Colorado Crash.” Hamilton Daily News Journal, IN. 8-23-1944, 1.)

 

Sources

 

AP [Associated Press]. “Three Ohioans Die in Colorado Crash.” Hamilton Daily News Journal, IN. 8-23-1944, p. 1. Accessed 3-19-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/hamilton-daily-news-journal-aug-23-1944-p-1/

 

INS [Independent News Service]. “Midair Crash of Bombers Kill 16.” Long Beach Independent, CA. 8-22-1944, p. 1. Accessed 3-19-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/long-beach-independent-aug-22-1944-p-1/

 

Mireles, Anthony J.  Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 3:  August 1944 – December 1945). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1944 — Oct 18-19, Hurricane, all of Peninsula of FL (Bradenton area Army tugboat/9)– 14

— 14 Blanchard tally of U.S. fatalities from locality breakouts below.
–9 Bradenton area. Drownings; hurricane-capsized Army tug boat S. T. 731
–2 Miami area. Miami Daily News. “Two Dead in Miami as Result of Storm.” 10-19-1944, p.1.
–1 Electrocution. Ronnie Tobias Maugans, 61, electric wire fell on him.
–1 Miami Naval Air Station, Opa Locka. Enlisted man; motorcycle crash LeJeune rd.
–1 Orlando. Electrocution. Bobby Malcom, 18, stepped on downed wire at Mutual Mill Plant.
–2 St. Augustine. Drownings. Lane. “1944: A dangerous year.” staugustine.com. 11-1-2010.
–1 James Wilson, FL Naval Academy student; “ventured into rough waters at the causeway.”
–1 Will Brown; drowned trying to save James Wilson. Both bodies recovered.

Blanchard note: We have looked through numerous newspapers of the time and cannot find support for 18 fatalities. We are firmly of the opinion that all the reports of 18 US lives lost can be traced to regurgitation of the October 1944 Monthly Weather Review, which, while noting 18 deaths, provides no detail as to locale or cause of death. Either the Monthly Weather Review report is in error, or we have missed information on the other four deaths.

–318 Wikipedia. “1944 Cuba-Florida hurricane.” 6-15-2022 edit. Notes most were in Cuba.
–>300 Cuba
— 18 Florida; “half from the loss of a ship in Tampa Bay.”
— 37 Cuba and FL. AP. “Storm Moves To Carolinas.” Thomasville Times Enterprise, GA. 10-20-1944, 1.
–24 Cuba
–11 Bradenton, FL, area. Soldiers in crash boat dingy drown. [Officially 9 deaths.]
— 2 Miami
— 35 AP. “Hurricane Sweeps into Central North Carolina…” Florence Morning News, SC. 10-21-1944, 1.
–24 Cuba
— 9 Bradenton, FL, area. Crewmen from small tug.
— 2 Miami
–>26 AP. “Tropical Storm Loses Force in Northward Route.” Panama City News Herald, FL. 10-20-1944, p. 1.
— 2 Florida
–24 Cuba
— 18 Barnes, Jay. Florida’s Hurricane History. Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1998, p. 166.
— 18 Burt and Stroud. Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book. 2004, p. 205.
— 18 Dunn, Gordon E. and Banner I. Miller. Atlantic Hurricanes (Revised). 1964, p. 318.
— 18 Norcross. Hurricane Almanac, 2007, p. 55.
— 18 Souder. “Severe Local Storms, October 1944.” Monthly Weather Review, Oct 1944, p.215.
— 14 Blanchard tally of U.S. fatalities from locality breakouts below:
— 11 Bradenton area. Drownings; crash boat off Bradenton.
— 9 Bradenton area. Drownings; hurricane-capsized Army tug boat S. T. 731.
— 9 Locale not noted. Tug ST-731, foundered, 19 October 1944 with a loss of 9 crew.
— 2 Miami. AP. “Storm Moves to Carolinas.” Thomasville Times Enterprise, GA. 10-20-1944, p.1.
— 2 Miami area. Miami Daily News. “Two Dead in Miami as Result of Storm.” 10-19-1944, p. 1.
–1 Electrocution. Ronnie Tobias Maugans, 61, electric wire fell on him; was walking home.
–1 Miami Naval Air Station, Opa Locka. Enlisted man; crashed motorcycle on LeJeune rd.
— 1 Orlando. Electrocution. Bobby Malcom, 18, stepped on downed wire at Mutual Mill Plant.
— 2 St. Augustine. Drownings. Lane. “1944: A dangerous year.” staugustine.com. 11-1-2010.
–1 James Wilson, FL Naval Academy student; “ventured into rough waters at the causeway.”
–1 Will Brown; drowned trying to save James Wilson. Both bodies recovered.
— 24 Cuba. AP. “Storm Moves to Carolinas.” Thomasville Times Enterprise, GA. 10-20-1944, p.1
— 7 Havana. AP. “Storm Moving Rapidly North…” Thomasville Times Enterprise, GA. 10-19-1944, 1.
— 6 Havana, Cuba. AP. “Key West Prepares For Storm…” Thomasville Times Enterprise, GA. 10-18-1944, 1.

Narrative Information

Souder/Monthly Weather Review: “Florida…October 18-19…18 [loss of life]…Hurricane…

“This storm had its formation in the western Caribbean. Storm warnings were ordered for the Florida Keys on the morning of the 16th and hurricane warnings from Miami to Tampa on the morning of the 18th and later extended to Cedar Keys and Fernandina and thence up the Atlantic coast. The storm was preceded by several tornadoes on the afternoon of the 18th near Wauchula and Arcadia and in southeastern Polk county. The hurricane was very large with its central core or area of light, shifting winds from 40 to 60 miles in diameter, requiring from 2 to 4 hours to pass over towns directly in its path. Dangerous winds extended fully 200 miles to the right or east of the center, and about 100 miles to the left or west, thus affecting all Peninsular Florida. Winds of hurricane or near hurricane velocity surrounded the central core, with gusts up to 100 miles at Tampa and Orlando. Property damage in the State totaled probably 10 to 13 millions. The greatest loss was to truck and citrus. The Florida State Marketing Bureau estimated total crop losses of nearly $50,000,000. 24 persons injured sufficiently to receive hospitalization. Systematic evacuation of all dangerously exposed beaches doubtless saved many lives.”

Newspapers

Oct 20, Panama City News Herald [See Oct 22]: “Eleven soldiers from the New Orleans port of embarkation aboard a crash boat which put in at Panama City Tuesday were apparently drowned near Bradenton at the height of the hurricane which passed there, it was made known today by the public relations office of the Third Air Force Headquarters. The announcement said the boat apparently got into trouble during the storm and the men took to a dingy which capsized at the height of the hurricane yesterday morning. The only known survivor was the skipper of the boat, whose name was not disclosed. Search crews combed the waters of Anna Maria beach near Bradenton but found no trace of the missing men, the air force announcement said.” (Panama City News Herald, FL. “11 Soldiers in Crash Boat Are Drowned.” 10-20-1944, p. 1.)

Oct 22, Sarasota Herald Tribune, FL: “Three survivors from a hurricane-capsized army tug boat are in the Sarasota Army Air Base hospital after remaining in the gulf for over eight hours. The bodies to two members of the 12-man crew are in a local funeral home after washing up onto the beaches.

“Ravaged by hurricane winds, the army tug S.T. 731 capsized in the mouth of Tampa bay about 2:30 a.m. Thursday with 12 men aboard. At first army authorities announced that all 12 were listed as missing. Two of the survivors made their way to safety near Bradenton and a Bradenton Herald reporter said they told a story of how the hurricane overtook them and tossed the tug on its side as the craft was anchored in raging seas. The two who reached Bradenton identified themselves as Roy F. Looney, first mate, and Bryon J. Weibelt, able seaman. A press dispatch from New Orleans said the two were civilian employees aboard the tug.

“The tug’s skipper, Captain John A. Unzicker, of Mobile, floated ashore about noon yesterday at the northern end of Anna Maria key as he clung to a crate. He was taken to the base hospital for treatment.

“Army authorities in Tampa, New Orleans and Sarasota at first released dispatches about the disaster and listed the 12 missing men, but late this afternoon declined to give any further information about the men, the disaster or the survivors….

“Dr. M. H. Lewin of Longboat key and J. Lickton of Chicago yesterday found a large circular-type 16-passenger life raft from the sunken vessel on Longboat key near the Cheerio-Ho, fully equipped with emergency rations and first aid equipment. Lewin said he first sighted the raft about 11 o’clock Thursday morning and when he approached the raft noted three sets of footprints leading from the raft. Lewin and Lickton notified army authorities immediately, they said, who began an extensive search of the island. Army authorities declined to say whether any of the victims had been found on the key, either dead or alive.

“Looney, one of the survivors now at the base hospital, identified the sunken craft as the -T-7-31. He said the 85-foot tugboat left New Orleans Saturday afternoon, and kept advised by a newspaper they obtained at Panama City Tuesday about the impending storm. He told Bradenton newsmen that the captain and a seaman left on a raft. Looney was wearing a life belt and Weibelt grabbed a floating buoy. They managed to get close enough to tie themselves together and finally drifted ashore. Looney refused to hazard a guess as to what happened to the other men. With three known to be alive, and two known to be dead, there are still seven missing.” (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL: “Three Survivors Of Sunken Boat Treated At SAAB.” 10-22-1944, 1.)

Sources

Associated Press. “Hurricane Sweeps Into Central North Carolina, After Spending Fury.” Florence Morning News, SC. 10-21-1944, p. 1. Accessed 9-10-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/florence-morning-news-oct-21-1944-p-1/

Associated Press. “Key West Prepares For Storm Winds; 6 Killed in Havana.” Thomasville Times Enterprise, GA. 10-18-1944, p. 1. Accessed 9-10-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/thomasville-times-enterprise-oct-18-1944-p-1/

Associated Press. “Storm Moves To Carolinas.” Thomasville Times Enterprise, GA. 10-20-1944, p. 1. Accessed 9-10-2022: https://newspaperarchive.com/thomasville-times-enterprise-oct-20-1944-p-1/

Associated Press. “Storm Moving Rapidly North Northeastward at Noon and High Winds at Jacksonville.” Thomasville Times Enterprise, GA. 10-19-1944, p. 1. Accessed 9-10-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/thomasville-times-enterprise-oct-19-1944-p-1/

Associated Press. “Tropical Storm Loses Force in Northward Route.” Panama City News Herald, FL. 10-20-1944, p. 1. Accessed 9-10-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/panama-city-news-herald-oct-20-1944-p-1/

Barnes, Jay. Florida’s Hurricane History. Chapel Hill and London: UNC Press, 1998.

Burt, Christopher C. and Mark Stroud. Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book. W. W. Norton & Co., 2004, 304 pages. Google preview accessed 1-1-2014 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=NuP7ATq9nWgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Dunn, Gordon E. and Banner I. Miller. Atlantic Hurricanes (Revised Edition). Baton Rouge LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1964, 377 pages.

Miami Daily News. “Two Dead in Miami as Result of Storm.” 10-19-1944, p. 1. Accessed 9-10-2022 at: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33160662/the-miami-news/

NavSource Online: Army Ship Photo Archive. “ST-731 (I).” 9-11-2020 update. Accessed 9-10-2022 at: http://www.navsource.org/archives/30/15/150731a.htm

Norcross, Bryan. Hurricane Almanac: The Essential Guide to Storms Past, Present, and Future. NY: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2007.

Orlando Evening Star, FL. “Boy Killed By Charged Wire.” 10-20-1944, p. 1. Accessed 9-10-2022 at: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33209712/orlando-evening-star/

Panama City News Herald, FL. “11 Soldiers in Crash Boat Are Drowned.” 10-20-1944, p. 1. Accessed 9-10-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/panama-city-news-herald-oct-20-1944-p-1/

Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL: “Three Survivors Of Sunken Boat Treated At SAAB.” 10-22-1944, 1. Accessed 9-10-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/sarasota-herald-tribune-oct-22-1944-p-1/

Souder, Mary O. “Severe Local Storms, October 1944.” Monthly Weather Review, Oct 1944, p. 215. Accessed 9-10-2022 at: file:///C:/Users/Wayne/Downloads/[15200493%20-%20Monthly%20Weather%20Review]%20SEVERE%20LOCAL%20STORMS,%20OCTOBER%201944.pdf

Lane, Marcia. “1944: A dangerous year.” staugustine.com. 11-1-2010. Accessed 9-10-2022 at: https://www.staugustine.com/story/news/local/2010/11/01/1944-dangerous-year/16219491007/

Wikipedia. “1944 Cuba-Florida hurricane.” 6-15-2022 edit. Accessed 9-10-2022 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1944_Cuba%E2%80%93Florida_hurricane

1944 – Aug 9, USAAF B-24J in-flight fire and crash 5M SE of Kiowa, CO                 –all 10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-28-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–10  AP. “Ten Fliers Killed In Colorado Crash.” Lubbock Morning Avalanche, TX. 8-11-1944, 1.

–10  Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V3, Aug 1944-Dec 1945, p. 883.

Narrative Information

Mireles: “At 1725, a Con­solidated B-24J suffering an in-flight fire crashed five miles southeast of Kiowa, Colorado, killing the crew of ten. The airplane was part of six-ship flight that had taken off from the Army Air Base at Pueblo, Colorado, on a camera-bombing mission. The formation was flying at an indicated altitude of 20,000 feet when a pilot in formation noticed that the subject airplane’s number-four engine was on fire. The observing pilot radioed the subject airplane a warning and was in­formed by the subject pilot that the number-four pro­peller was running away. The subject B-24 left the for­mation to return to Pueblo Army Air Base. The airplane was next observed at an altitude of about 3,000 feet agl with the number-four engine and nacelle in flames. The starboard wing and the number-four engine then separated from the aircraft, causing it to go into a slow spin to the right. The airplane then smashed into the ground on the right side and exploded into flames. The starboard wing was found about one mile from the main wreckage. Investigators speculated that the wing was weakened by the intense fire, causing it to separate from the aircraft.”  (Mireles 2006, p. 883.)

Newspaper

 

Aug 10, AP: “Denver, Aug. 20 (AP) – Ten fliers from the Pueblo, Colo., Army Air base were killed last night in the crash of their GB-24 bomber eight airline miles southeast of Kiowa, southeast of Denver. The Lowry field public relations office said that not all the next of kin had been notified and the names of the victims couldn’t be released immediately.” (Associated Press. “Ten Fliers Killed In Colorado Crash.” Lubbock Morning Avalanche, TX. 8-11-1944, 1.)

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Ten Fliers Killed In Colorado Crash.” Lubbock Morning Avalanche, TX. 8-11-1944, 1.

 

Mireles, Anthony J.  Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 3:  August 1944 – December 1945). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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