Crash of a Boeing B-17F-55-DL Flying Fortress on Mt Bomber: 10 killed
Date & Time:
Jun 28, 1943 at 2359 LT
Operator:
Registration:
42-3399
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Pendleton – Grand Island
MSN:
8335
Crew on board:
10
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
10
Circumstances:
The crew was returning to his base in Grand Island in order to prepare to join the European operations. En route, the crew inform ground about his position over Powder River. This was the last communication. Around 2359LT, the aircraft hit the slope of a mountain located in the Bighorn Mountain Range, in the north part of Wyoming. All SAR operations were suspended after few days as no trace of the aircraft nor the 10 crew members was found. Two cowboys found the wreckage on August 12, 1945. The aircraft was off course at the time of the accident. After a petition by veterans groups in Wyoming, the unnamed mountain on which the aircraft crashed was christened 'Bomber Mountain' on 22 August 1946 by the U.S. Forest Service.
Crew (318th BS):
Lt William R. Ronaghan, pilot,
Lt Anthony S. Tilotta, copilot,
Lt Leonard H. Phillips, navigator,
Lt Charles H. Suppes, bombardier,
Sgt James A. Hinds, flight engineer,
Sgt Lee V. Millar, assistant to the flight engineer,
Sgt Ferguson T. Bell, radio operator,
Sgt Charles E. Newburn Jr., assistant to the radio operator,
Sgt Jake E. Penick, air gunner,
Sgt Lewis M. Shepherd, air gunner.
Crew (318th BS):
Lt William R. Ronaghan, pilot,
Lt Anthony S. Tilotta, copilot,
Lt Leonard H. Phillips, navigator,
Lt Charles H. Suppes, bombardier,
Sgt James A. Hinds, flight engineer,
Sgt Lee V. Millar, assistant to the flight engineer,
Sgt Ferguson T. Bell, radio operator,
Sgt Charles E. Newburn Jr., assistant to the radio operator,
Sgt Jake E. Penick, air gunner,
Sgt Lewis M. Shepherd, air gunner.
Probable cause:
At the time of the accident, the aircraft was nearly 120 miles off course to the north and flying below the prescribed flight altitude, thus below the elevation of the Bighorn Mountain Range.
