|
USAF airplane crashed in 1952, confirmed
Salerno,
I did some further googling with 126th Bomb Wing and found the following on the website of the Illinois Air National Guard:
From November 1 to 13, the 168th Bomb Squadron was ordered to Naples, Italy to participate in Operation LONG STEP. There were two accidents during this exercise; one caused aircraft damage and the other resulted in fatalities. Captain Thomas W. Davis’ nose gear collapsed on landing at Naples. He was unhurt but three other aircraft had to divert to Rome because of the blocked runway. Two of the B-26s made it to Rome, but the third crashed in the bad weather and low ceiling. Major Jack Telford, the squadron commander and Captain Richard J. Gilbert, squadron navigator, were killed when their plane crashed into a mountain near Salerno, Italy. These two deaths were the last fatalities suffered by the wing before it rotated home.
Regards,
Leendert
|