B-17 Bomber Crash, 1944

NebraskaAirCrash.com, which records the state's World War II crash sites, lists this field as fatal site No. 27 and gives the bomber's serial as 42-38203. The ten-man crew belonged to a larger group bound for overseas combat. After a successful takeoff in the early morning, the crew failed to begin flying by instruments; with attention taken up in the cockpit, the B-17G came down on its belly, skidded and exploded against the berm. The pilot escaped with minor injuries. Searches of the field in 2007 and 2008, guided by the landowner, found no physical trace.

What the plaque says

B-17 Bomber Crash, 1944 On February 25, 1944, a B-17G bomber from the Grand Island Army Air Field crashed half a mile east of here on the Langenheder farm, killing nine aboard. The Grand Island base served as a training location for aircrews prior to their leaving for overseas. The B-17 was on a training flight in the early morning hours, crashing shortly after takeoff and sliding in the field before impacting a berm next to an irrigation ditch and exploding. Losing their lives were 2nd Lt. John T. McMillen, Cleveland, OH; 2nd Lt. Kenneth E. Pierce, Brownsville, VT; F/O Alfred R. Flock, Boise, ID; S/Sgt. Glen M. Cox, Newport, KY; S/Sgt. Donald J. Vitale, Crockett, CA; Sgt. John M. Robertson, Atlanta, GA; Sgt. Stanley S. Sala, Cohoes, CA; Sgt. Lloyd D. McNeil, Somers, IA; and Sgt. Edward Machos, Manchester, NH. Pilot 1st Lt. Howard T. Talbert was the lone survivor. This marker memorializes the more than 15,500 Army Air Forces airmen who died in nearly 6,350 air crash training accidents in the U.S. during World War II. Eric O'Neill, Eagle Scout Project Hall County Historical Society Nebraska State Historical Society, 2012

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer — 8.2 mi
  Edward Durell Stone's island pavilion in Grand Island and an 1890s railroad town of moved buildings, among them the cottage where Henry Fonda was born in 1905.

More markers nearby

• Hall County Poor Farm Cemetery — 1.9 mi
• Central Nebraska Regional Airport — 2.2 mi
• Grand Island Veterans Home — 3.8 mi
• The Seedling Mile — 4.6 mi