Bio: Fritz, Earl Buster – Killed in Training Plane Crash (Feb 1942)

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Fritz, Book, Beamer, Coates, Bohr

---------Source: Wilmington Morning Star, Wilmington, N.C. (11 Feb 1942)

Phoenix, Arizona, Feb 10, 1942 – Two aviation cadets were killed when five training planes crashed in a rain storm near Hachita, N.M., last night.

Two other cadets are missing. A fifty parachuted to safety.

Luke Field authorities announced today that those killed were Earl Buster Fritz, 24, Owen, Wisconsin, and Fay Edward Book, 23, of Sterling, Ill.

Missing were Walter S. Beamer, 28, of Lansing, Mich., and Charlie B. Coates, 24, of Lubbock, Tex.

Thomas A. Bohr, 23, Columbus, Ohio, bailed out and was safe.

The cadets encountered an unexpected storm while on a routine night training flight from their base, Luke Field, Litchfield Park, Ariz., to El Paso Texas, Air Corps authorities said.

Several students became lost from their instructors while flying through the storm.

A large force of planes was dispatched to look for the missing fliers.

 

 


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