WWII Bomber Crashes near Meadow, SD

At 10:00 PM on October 20, 1944, a four-engined B-24 bomber on a routine training flight from a base in Casper, Wyoming, crashed on the Hubler farm six miles northeast of Meadow, South Dakota, with a crew of 10 men aboard. Trouble began when one engine flamed and two others stopped, sending the aircraft into a tailspin over the countryside east of Meadow. Several people saw the plane falling and heard the tremendous noise of backfiring motors before it came down with a deafening roar about 300 feet west of the Hubler home. Four crewmen were killed: Lt. Milan J. Mikulec, 23, bombardier; Col. Wm. A. Gaszewski, 22, engineer; Cpl. Ralph L. Kizer, 25, gunner; and F-O Alexander J. Kaczmarek, 19, navigator. Co-pilot Carson A. Bass was injured. The survivors were Lt. Robert Meyer, pilot, Bernard Day, radio-man, Sherwood Long, and Sheldon B. Kaiser, crew members.

South Dakota · United States