A deadly plane crash. A cryptic epitaph. And mysteries that endured for decades.
Their story ended with a cryptic epitaph on a Marietta National Cemetery headstone: Died in a plane crash WWII April 29, 1942. And our interest in this story began with that same epitaph.
General William T. Sherman once proclaimed, “War is hell.” And in a story hidden behind a mysterious memorial at Marietta National Cemetery, we learned that even training for war holds its own dangerous risks and gruesome outcomes.
Our Journey Begins
Walking in Section A near the Greek Revival style rostrum during one of our first visits to the cemetery, we found a large headstone listing the names of five Army fliers. Under the names, ranks, birth dates and birth places of the fliers, an inscription reveals, “Died in plane crash WWII April 29 1942.” At the time, we were writing a post about the group memorials at the cemetery, but we didn’t include this one.
On a return visit, working on a post about decorated veterans and notable figures, we were seeking the Section A burial locations of Lt. Col. Wilford Phelps and Col. Blake Van Leer. We spotted the fliers’ headstone again. Once more, we were intrigued, but it didn’t work with the focus of our article.
As this Memorial Day approached, we remembered that mysterious headstone with its cryptic inscription. Now seemed the perfect opportunity to honor the memories of the fliers by researching and telling their story. But as we explored the story and the circumstance of their deaths, we’re ended up left with a few mysteries that we’re still unable to explain.
The Importance of Air Power
In the early days of World War II, the US rushed desperately to arm itself for a multi-front war. And with advances in aviation since the end of World War 1, military strategy demanded a strong, expansive, and deadly air power capability that could strike almost anywhere, anytime.
That reality exploded on the US with the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, as the Japanese used hundreds of carrier-based airplanes to cripple America’s Pacific Fleet. And the British also learned the necessity of a defensive air force as London faced deadly daily bombing raids by the German Lufwafte.
Thus, the US, sought thousands of new recruits to become members of its flying forces. Here in Marietta, a new bomber plant was started and finished quickly, producing Liberator bombers that would prove essential to the offensive bombing capabilities of the US and its allies.
Planes Everywhere
Across the country, airfields sprouted from cornfields, with runways pointing in virtually every direction. McDill Army Air Base near Tampa, Florida, became home to the four-engine Boeing B-17 heavy bombers and the twin-engine Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber. Combining the size, weight, engine power and quirk handling of these new war machines with inexperienced crews often led to disastrous consequences.
In fact, according to published reports in military history journals, the B-26 Marauder proved especially problematic. The plane earned its nicknames “Widowmaker” and “Flying Coffin” from the numerous training accidents. And while the B-17 eventually proved to be incredibly durable and powerful war birds, the new pilots often struggled to control the huge beasts. Reports in local newspapers noted frequent training flight crashes. They even quoted a new Army Air Force colloquialism for the frequent accidents at the base located on a peninsula south of Tampa: “One a day in Tampa Bay.”
The New Planes and Flyers Arrive
Each day brought new arrivals to McDill. On Feb. 6, 1942, a new Boeing B-17E, registration number 41-2566, was delivered to the airfield from the main Boeing assembly plant in Everett, Washington. (SOURCE: American Air Museum).
After marrying his college sweetheart on Feb. 20, 1942, in his native Oregon, Lt. Ernest W. Robertson and his new wife transferred to Tampa, FL. Robertson, a guard on the University of Oregon football team and its captain his senior year, had been assigned as a pilot to advanced bomber training at McDill. (SOURCE: Newspaper)
Robertson would join five others in a new bomber crew. Second Lieutenant Joseph S. Smith was a Texas native. Fellow officer Richard R. Carnevale joined the cockpit crew from Lockbourne, OH. Privates Marvin C. Brown and William C. Wimf hailed most recently from Michigan, though Wimf was an Arkansas native. The crew was rounded out by Private William C. Gearhart of Pennsylvania.
A similar situation existed at nearby Orlando Army Air Field, home to P-40 fighters. There, Second Lieut. Robert S. Boyce, of Chillicothe, OH, piloted one of the single-crew fighters that often were to escort and protect bombers on their deadly missions. An unmarried graduate of Washington and Lee University and the army’s advance flying school at Kelly field, TX, he was transferred to Orlando Air Base from Key Field, Meridian, MS., on March 25, according to newspaper accounts.
Rigorous and Realistic Training
While the day-to-day routines of these specific B-17 and P-40 fliers are unknown, the training they received was well documented and consistently implemented. It’s likely that the crews had completed ground and simulator training before arriving at their Florida bases, an observation largely based on historical documents and archives from World War II training programs and manuals.
Once in Florida, the crews homed in on turning their assigned planes into precise weapons. They had graduated from simulators to real cockpits, often taking their first turns inside the powerful – and finicky – aircraft.
The bomber crews progressed from basic flying to more advanced skills such as formation flying, aerial gunnery, bombing runs, and navigational exercises. For the fighter pilots, training included aerobatics, dogfighting maneuvers, aerial gunnery, and tactical formations.
And, in anticipation of forming the combined bomber and fighter groups that would form aerial convoys to assigned target, the crews from different backgrounds, training and background would practice essential rendezvous and pursuit maneuvers.
A Fateful Event
As with many World War 2 domestic training crashes, details of whatever occurred on April 29, 1942, are sketchy. The emergency nature of war preparedness and need for military secrecy often combined to limit available information on catastrophic events. But here’s what we do know, according to accounts published in the Orlando Sentinal on April 30, 1942, and other subsequent press and official accounts.
“A multi-engined bomber from MacDill Field, Tampa, and a pursuit ship from Orlando Air Base yesterday collided in mid-air about nine miles west of Orlando and killed all occupants: four second lieutenants and three privates. Colonel Thomas S. Voss, commandant, Orlando Air Base, announced.
“Those listed as dead were Second Lieutenants Ernest W. Robertson, 25, Eugene, Ore., who leaves his widow, Virginia, at Tampa; Joseph S. Smith, Yoakum, Texas; and Richard R. Carnevale, Columbus, Ohio; three privates, M.C. Brown, 2136 Antoinette Avenue, Detroit, Mich.; L.A. Gerhart, Wernersville, Pa.; and (William) E. Wimf, Holland, Mich., all aboard the bomber; and Second Lieutenant Robert S. Boyce, 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Boyce of Chillicothe, Ohio, who piloted the pursuit plane.
“Colonel Voss immediately named a board of inquiry into the crash composed of Major W.E. Baker and Captains Griffin Davis and W.R. Yancey.
“The bomber, following the crash, plunged into the middle of an orange grove at the United States Department of Agriculture Sub-Tropical Fruit Research Station just off the Hiawassee Road.
“The pursuit plane crashed near Hoequist Field, two miles away, about six miles south of Orlando. Both planes burned.
The Gruesome Aftermath
The fact that the planes collided in midair, crashed and then burned led to gruesome realities for those who were flying and those who worked on the recovery. For those of us who have covered or worked at air crash scenes, the tragic outcome and horrible sights are among memories we hope to erase, but that never go away.
The remains of Lieut. Robert S. Boyce, 23, of Chillicothe, Ohio, were recovered individually. His remains were sent to his family in Ohio, and he was buried at Mount Moriah Cemetery, Withamsville, Clermont County, Ohio.
According to archived records of the Carey Hand Funeral Home in Orlando, FL, the fragmented remains of the bomber crew arrived there on April 29. The remains were cremated together on Sunday, May 3, then placed in one box as the funeral home awaited further instructions from the Army. The records indicate the Army paid $1,500 for one coffin, and all handling and arrangements for the deceased bomber crew were approved by Capt. Frank A. Perri of the Army Medical Corps.
Mystery at Marietta and Beyond
As we mentioned when we discovered the memorial to the bomber crew at Marietta National Cemetery, it includes a cryptic epitaph and the names of five Army fliers. The name of 2nd Lt. Richard R. Carnevale doesn’t appear on the Marietta Memorial. Instead, there is a headstone for Carnevale at Saint Joseph Cemetery in Lockbourne, OH.
But the funeral records indicate the bomber crew was cremated together and their remains placed in one coffin. So, who actually is buried at Marietta National Cemetery?
Then, there’s confusion about the actual type of plane in which the bomber crew flew and died.
The newspaper accounts reference only that it was a “multi-engined bomber from McDill Field,” and doesn’t reference the specific type of plane. A listing in the database of the Aviation Safety Network indicates that a B-17E Flying Fortress with registration 41-2566 crashed on April 29, 1942, just west of Orlando. And records of the American Air Museum list a B-17 registration listing for 41-2566. But the heavy, long-range, deadly-armed B-17s usually flew with a crew of 10, required for manning all the guns around the airship.
The other primary multi-engined bomber assigned to McDill in 1942 was the B-26 Marauder. A lighter and shorter-range aircraft, it flew with a crew of six. Thus, with six crew members killed in the April 29 crash, which plane were they flying?
Likely Answers from Observations
After more research, we believe we’ve resolved – if not formerly solved – those two remaining mysteries.
Most likely, the remains of all six bomber crew members are interred at Marietta National Cemetery at plots A, 945-B-C. Since the funeral home recorded that all remains were placed in one box after cremation, it would have been impossible to bury the remains of 2nd Lt. Richard Carnevale in Ohio and five others at Marietta.
Instead, the memorial to Lt. Carnevale in Ohio likely is a cenotaph, or an empty grave and marker memorializing a missing or lost person. Carnevale’s Ohio grave marker appears to be standard issue for the time for US Army veterans, a benefit offered to families of veterans then and now through the US Department of Veteran’s Affairs. It’s also likely that, if the Carnevale family ordered a separate headstone for a memorial in Ohio, Department of Veteran’s Affairs regulations prohibited his listing on a second grave marker in Marietta.
As to the plane in which the bomber crew flew, we believe it mostly likely was a B-17E. We found two database references to the registration number and reports of a crash, but one was incomplete and the other included an incorrect date and the incorrect name of the fighter pilot. Still, all the other information matches the crash reports. We could find no specific references to a B-26 Marauder crash near Orlando. Instead, we think the 10-crew B-17E flew that day without some of its gunners. Whether gunners were assigned and left off the flight or – more likely – a full crew had not yet been assigned, we can’t ascertain fully.
Our Growing Series on Marietta National Cemetery
Since we live nearby, we frequently walk the pathways through Marietta National Cemetery. We’re often intrigued by what we find, and develop new articles. You can find all our posts about Marietta National Cemetery and the heroes resting in its hills by clicking here.
