Lt. Jack T. Laughlin

Laughlin trained as a pilot and was co-pilot of the B-17E numbered 41-2476, but on the day of his first bombing mission he was bumped. The group commander, Maj. Stanley K. Robinson, took the co-pilot's seat beside Capt. Walter W. Sparks and brought his own combat navigator, Lt. Richard Cease. Laughlin had no assigned position and probably flew as a waist gunner. The bomber made two runs against Japanese warships and transports in the Makassar Strait off Balikpapan, Borneo, and, badly damaged, was lost at sea on January 29 or 28, 1942.

What the plaque says

Lt. Jack T. Laughlin Born in Del Rio on Sept. 17, 1914, Jack Thomas Laughlin graduated from Del Rio High School and earned a degree from the University of Texas. In 1940, he joined the Army Air Corps and the following year received his pilot's wings at Stockton, CA. On Jan. 29, 1942, during World War II, his B-17 Flying Fortress was shot down over the Java Sea in the Indonesian islands. The U.S. Army established an airfield in Del Rio that year, and citizens and officials requested it be named for Laughlin, the first Del Rio-born pilot killed in the war. Despite the official policy for naming bases, the idea prevailed, and in March 1943 Laughlin Field was dedicated with the pilot's widow and daughter in attendance. (2006)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Felipe Creek — 5.4 mi
  The spring-fed creek that made Del Rio, rising from the third largest springs in Texas and running past swimming holes and a hike-and-bike trail through town.
• Val Verde Winery — 6.0 mi
  The family winery an Italian immigrant founded on Del Rio's irrigated land in 1883, which outlasted Prohibition by selling table grapes and kept Texas wine alive into the 1970s.
• Whitehead Memorial Museum — 6.1 mi
  A village of old Del Rio buildings set along a working irrigation canal, from an 1870 store to a 1925 doctor's office, with Judge Roy Bean buried on the grounds.
• Amistad National Recreation Area — 13 mi
  The American side of the reservoir the United States and Mexico finished in 1969 where three rivers meet, with painted shelters still reachable by boat when the water allows.

More markers nearby

• Laughlin Army Air Field — steps away
• Military Aviation in Val Verde County — steps away
• Rudolf Anderson, Jr. — steps away
• San Felipe Independent School District — 5.0 mi