MILITARY · HISTORICAL MARKER
WWII B-24D Crash Site Memorial
Plush, Oregon
· In Memory of the Crewmen
Military
2
On February 9, 1945, at approximately 10 PM, a Consolidated B-24D, serial number 42-40427, crashed at this location in the Pueblo Mountains during a "round robin" navigation training mission from Gowen Field near Boise, Idaho, to Hamilton Field in California. An eyewitness in Denio recalled seeing the plane fly over Pueblo Mountain on its return from California and, for some unknown reason, turn sharply to the left, narrowly missing the summit as it crossed back over to the southwest. This maneuver cost the plane 2500 feet in altitude, and a few seconds later it crashed into the west side of the mountain at the 7500-foot level. All 11 men on board were killed, and the cause of the crash was never determined. Those killed were pilot Second Lieutenant Edward A. Bucek, pilot Second Lieutenant Allen D. Blake, navigator First Officer Anton Pecnik, bombardier First Officer Roy L. Pierson, Staff Sergeant Dean H. Sautter, Corporal Arthur G. Manchester, Corporal Edmund J. Green, Private First Class George B. Wilkins, Private First Class Carl E. McDaniel, Private First Class Sidney M. Davis, and Technical Sergeant Ernest E. Kampinen, all based at Gowen Field.
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