Private Hughes was an aerial gunner aboard B-17F Flying Fortress #42-5197, serving with the 339th Bomb Squadron, 96th Bomb Group from the Pocatello Army Airfield, Idaho.
During an evening navigational training flight, the bomber flew through stormy winter clouds and fog. Coming out of cloud cover, the pilots realized they were on a collision course with the 8,500-foot Wasatch Mountain range, and made a sudden, steep climb. But the plane stalled, rolled over and plunged to earth in a near-vertical dive.
It disintegrated upon impact, killing all ten airmen aboard instantly. The wreck site was not located for two days. It was found about thirteen miles south of Soda Springs, in a heavily forested area of Eight Mile Canyon.
Full recovery was not possible due to heavy snowfall, and not completed until the spring of 1943.
The airmen lost on the flight were:
2nd Lt. Harold K Simpson, pilot
2nd Lt. Wendell L Sims, co-pilot
2nd Lt. Chalmers G Wenrich, bombadier
2nd Lt. Thomas J Wymond, navigator
S/Sgt. John E Lazansky, radio operator
Sgt. Neal L Slinker, asst. engineer
Cpl. Charles L Walker, Jr, engineer
PFC Nicholas M Zompetti, asst. radio operator
Pvt. Joseph R. Hughes, gunner
Pvt. Donald W Seaney, gunner
~
Entered the service from Connecticut; ASN 31121503
Private Hughes was an aerial gunner aboard B-17F Flying Fortress #42-5197, serving with the 339th Bomb Squadron, 96th Bomb Group from the Pocatello Army Airfield, Idaho.
During an evening navigational training flight, the bomber flew through stormy winter clouds and fog. Coming out of cloud cover, the pilots realized they were on a collision course with the 8,500-foot Wasatch Mountain range, and made a sudden, steep climb. But the plane stalled, rolled over and plunged to earth in a near-vertical dive.
It disintegrated upon impact, killing all ten airmen aboard instantly. The wreck site was not located for two days. It was found about thirteen miles south of Soda Springs, in a heavily forested area of Eight Mile Canyon.
Full recovery was not possible due to heavy snowfall, and not completed until the spring of 1943.
The airmen lost on the flight were:
2nd Lt. Harold K Simpson, pilot
2nd Lt. Wendell L Sims, co-pilot
2nd Lt. Chalmers G Wenrich, bombadier
2nd Lt. Thomas J Wymond, navigator
S/Sgt. John E Lazansky, radio operator
Sgt. Neal L Slinker, asst. engineer
Cpl. Charles L Walker, Jr, engineer
PFC Nicholas M Zompetti, asst. radio operator
Pvt. Joseph R. Hughes, gunner
Pvt. Donald W Seaney, gunner
~
Entered the service from Connecticut; ASN 31121503
Gravesite Details
Date of burial per Office: 12/14/1942
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
