On March 18, 1942, four U.S. Army Air Corps pilots died within a quarter mile of this site after leaving Wayne County Airport near Detroit in P-39F Airacobra pursuit planes as part of the Army Air Corps Ferry Command, delivering new aircraft to Louisville, Kentucky. Three months after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, they entered Allen County during a blinding snow storm that limited visibility, and flight leader Lt. Edward H. Saunders turned back to escape the dangerous conditions. With ice building on their wings and windshields, the four pilots, flying in close formation, crashed into the ground within seconds of each other, and there were no survivors. The dead were Lt. Edward H. Saunders of Lake Village, Arkansas, Lt. Armel J. Kennedy of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Lt. Eugene H. Anderson of Kewanee, Illinois, and Lt. Earl A. Houser of Pesotum, Illinois. Though they never faced the enemy, their mission was considered crucial to the United States in fighting the war. They were flying P-39F Airacobra pursuit planes developed and built by Bell Aircraft of Buffalo, New York. The aircraft had a revolutionary design, with a 1,150 hp Allison liquid cooled V12 engine located behind and below the pilot, a cannon firing through the propeller hub, four machine guns, and tricycle landing gear. About 10,000 P-39 Airacobras were built between 1938 and 1945.