On the night of August 17, 1945, two B-29 heavy bombers on separate training missions to simulate bomb runs in the Pacific collided head-on over Weatherford, killing 18 of the 20 airmen aboard. The fiery explosions were visible as far away as Gainesville, Greenville, and Cisco. One aircraft from Clovis Airfield, New Mexico, carrying a crew of 11, crashed about one and a quarter miles southwest of the site on the Edwards family farm, and two men parachuted from the burning plane and survived. The other aircraft from Alamogordo Airfield, New Mexico, carrying a crew of 9, crashed about two and a half miles north of the site near Peaster highway, and there were no survivors.