Second Lieutenant Shannon served with the 325th Base Unit, Avon Park Army Airfield during World War II.
He was the Co-Pilot and one of nine airmen killed when B-17G Flying Fortress #42-102746 suffered a structural failure after encountering a severe thunderstorm and turbulence during a training flight, and crashed six miles east of St. Marks, Florida. Thirteen bombers had taken off for a mock bombing target to Tallahassee and were flying at about 13,000 feet elevation when strong storm clouds, rising up to 25,000 feet high, were entered. His airplane disintegrated in flight and crashed into a marshy area. The accident investigation board concluded the Boeing bomber had broken up in flight due to severe weather, as evidenced by another flying fortress that returned to base with severe hail damage.
Killed were:
2nd Lt. Gordon E Thrall, O-825331, CT, Pilot
2nd Lt. Charles W Shannon Jr, O-828247, MA, Co-Pilot
2nd Lt. John W Smidt, O2060402, NC, Navigator
2nd Lt. Donald L Price, O-547269, NV, Bombardier
Cpl. James Dracopoulos, 11004260, RI, Flight Engineer
Cpl. Arthur L Davis, 19041031, CA, Asst. Radio Operator
Pvt. Albert C Fries, 16187991, IL, Gunner
Pvt. William M Gehman Jr, 6908916, NJ, Asst. Flt. Engineer
Pvt. Horace W Newton, 39209593, WA, Gunner
Corporal Marvin J Magee Jr, the radio operator, survived by bailing out and parachuting.
~
His B-17G was one of 13 aircraft which had left Avon Park Army Air Base on a routine flight to participate in mock bombing exercises over Tallahassee, Florida, and Waycross, Georgia. Only one crewmember of the ill-fated B-17G parachuted to safety before the crash into St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. B-17s usually flew with a 10-man crew, so only one survivor proved the accident to be highly tragic.
After the lone survivor wandered through the thick, unforgiving swamps in the brutal Florida summer heat, he came across a boy with a mule on a country dirt road. After he accepted a ride from the boy, they came across a paved road, where he then hitched a ride down to the St. Marks lighthouse. At the time, the Coast Guard had a manned station at that location. The man told authorities that he wasn't sure what caused the plane to go down, but he thought it was probably struck by lightning. Crash crews from the Dale Mabry Airfield (present-day site of Tallahassee Community College) and the St. Marks lighthouse Coast Guard Station combed the area about four miles east of the lighthouse. They found that fire had destroyed most of the plane.
The crash was headline news in Tallahassee's Daily Democrat on July 31, 1944: "Flying Fortress Crashes Near St. Marks". The incident happened about 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon during a heavy thunderstorm. J.Y. Gresham, in charge of the St. Marks lighthouse, described the swamp where the plane crashed as "dense and muddy."
~
He was the Co-Pilot and one of nine airmen killed when B-17G Flying Fortress #42-102746 suffered a structural failure after encountering a severe thunderstorm and turbulence during a training flight, and crashed six miles east of St. Marks, Florida. Thirteen bombers had taken off for a mock bombing target to Tallahassee and were flying at about 13,000 feet elevation when strong storm clouds, rising up to 25,000 feet high, were entered. His airplane disintegrated in flight and crashed into a marshy area. The accident investigation board concluded the Boeing bomber had broken up in flight due to severe weather, as evidenced by another flying fortress that returned to base with severe hail damage.
Killed were:
2nd Lt. Gordon E Thrall, O-825331, CT, Pilot
2nd Lt. Charles W Shannon Jr, O-828247, MA, Co-Pilot
2nd Lt. John W Smidt, O2060402, NC, Navigator
2nd Lt. Donald L Price, O-547269, NV, Bombardier
Cpl. James Dracopoulos, 11004260, RI, Flight Engineer
Cpl. Arthur L Davis, 19041031, CA, Asst. Radio Operator
Pvt. Albert C Fries, 16187991, IL, Gunner
Pvt. William M Gehman Jr, 6908916, NJ, Asst. Flt. Engineer
Pvt. Horace W Newton, 39209593, WA, Gunner
Corporal Marvin J Magee Jr, the radio operator, survived by bailing out and parachuting.
~
His B-17G was one of 13 aircraft which had left Avon Park Army Air Base on a routine flight to participate in mock bombing exercises over Tallahassee, Florida, and Waycross, Georgia. Only one crewmember of the ill-fated B-17G parachuted to safety before the crash into St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. B-17s usually flew with a 10-man crew, so only one survivor proved the accident to be highly tragic.
After the lone survivor wandered through the thick, unforgiving swamps in the brutal Florida summer heat, he came across a boy with a mule on a country dirt road. After he accepted a ride from the boy, they came across a paved road, where he then hitched a ride down to the St. Marks lighthouse. At the time, the Coast Guard had a manned station at that location. The man told authorities that he wasn't sure what caused the plane to go down, but he thought it was probably struck by lightning. Crash crews from the Dale Mabry Airfield (present-day site of Tallahassee Community College) and the St. Marks lighthouse Coast Guard Station combed the area about four miles east of the lighthouse. They found that fire had destroyed most of the plane.
The crash was headline news in Tallahassee's Daily Democrat on July 31, 1944: "Flying Fortress Crashes Near St. Marks". The incident happened about 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon during a heavy thunderstorm. J.Y. Gresham, in charge of the St. Marks lighthouse, described the swamp where the plane crashed as "dense and muddy."
~
Second Lieutenant Shannon served with the 325th Base Unit, Avon Park Army Airfield during World War II.
He was the Co-Pilot and one of nine airmen killed when B-17G Flying Fortress #42-102746 suffered a structural failure after encountering a severe thunderstorm and turbulence during a training flight, and crashed six miles east of St. Marks, Florida. Thirteen bombers had taken off for a mock bombing target to Tallahassee and were flying at about 13,000 feet elevation when strong storm clouds, rising up to 25,000 feet high, were entered. His airplane disintegrated in flight and crashed into a marshy area. The accident investigation board concluded the Boeing bomber had broken up in flight due to severe weather, as evidenced by another flying fortress that returned to base with severe hail damage.
Killed were:
2nd Lt. Gordon E Thrall, O-825331, CT, Pilot
2nd Lt. Charles W Shannon Jr, O-828247, MA, Co-Pilot
2nd Lt. John W Smidt, O2060402, NC, Navigator
2nd Lt. Donald L Price, O-547269, NV, Bombardier
Cpl. James Dracopoulos, 11004260, RI, Flight Engineer
Cpl. Arthur L Davis, 19041031, CA, Asst. Radio Operator
Pvt. Albert C Fries, 16187991, IL, Gunner
Pvt. William M Gehman Jr, 6908916, NJ, Asst. Flt. Engineer
Pvt. Horace W Newton, 39209593, WA, Gunner
Corporal Marvin J Magee Jr, the radio operator, survived by bailing out and parachuting.
~
His B-17G was one of 13 aircraft which had left Avon Park Army Air Base on a routine flight to participate in mock bombing exercises over Tallahassee, Florida, and Waycross, Georgia. Only one crewmember of the ill-fated B-17G parachuted to safety before the crash into St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. B-17s usually flew with a 10-man crew, so only one survivor proved the accident to be highly tragic.
After the lone survivor wandered through the thick, unforgiving swamps in the brutal Florida summer heat, he came across a boy with a mule on a country dirt road. After he accepted a ride from the boy, they came across a paved road, where he then hitched a ride down to the St. Marks lighthouse. At the time, the Coast Guard had a manned station at that location. The man told authorities that he wasn't sure what caused the plane to go down, but he thought it was probably struck by lightning. Crash crews from the Dale Mabry Airfield (present-day site of Tallahassee Community College) and the St. Marks lighthouse Coast Guard Station combed the area about four miles east of the lighthouse. They found that fire had destroyed most of the plane.
The crash was headline news in Tallahassee's Daily Democrat on July 31, 1944: "Flying Fortress Crashes Near St. Marks". The incident happened about 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon during a heavy thunderstorm. J.Y. Gresham, in charge of the St. Marks lighthouse, described the swamp where the plane crashed as "dense and muddy."
~
He was the Co-Pilot and one of nine airmen killed when B-17G Flying Fortress #42-102746 suffered a structural failure after encountering a severe thunderstorm and turbulence during a training flight, and crashed six miles east of St. Marks, Florida. Thirteen bombers had taken off for a mock bombing target to Tallahassee and were flying at about 13,000 feet elevation when strong storm clouds, rising up to 25,000 feet high, were entered. His airplane disintegrated in flight and crashed into a marshy area. The accident investigation board concluded the Boeing bomber had broken up in flight due to severe weather, as evidenced by another flying fortress that returned to base with severe hail damage.
Killed were:
2nd Lt. Gordon E Thrall, O-825331, CT, Pilot
2nd Lt. Charles W Shannon Jr, O-828247, MA, Co-Pilot
2nd Lt. John W Smidt, O2060402, NC, Navigator
2nd Lt. Donald L Price, O-547269, NV, Bombardier
Cpl. James Dracopoulos, 11004260, RI, Flight Engineer
Cpl. Arthur L Davis, 19041031, CA, Asst. Radio Operator
Pvt. Albert C Fries, 16187991, IL, Gunner
Pvt. William M Gehman Jr, 6908916, NJ, Asst. Flt. Engineer
Pvt. Horace W Newton, 39209593, WA, Gunner
Corporal Marvin J Magee Jr, the radio operator, survived by bailing out and parachuting.
~
His B-17G was one of 13 aircraft which had left Avon Park Army Air Base on a routine flight to participate in mock bombing exercises over Tallahassee, Florida, and Waycross, Georgia. Only one crewmember of the ill-fated B-17G parachuted to safety before the crash into St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. B-17s usually flew with a 10-man crew, so only one survivor proved the accident to be highly tragic.
After the lone survivor wandered through the thick, unforgiving swamps in the brutal Florida summer heat, he came across a boy with a mule on a country dirt road. After he accepted a ride from the boy, they came across a paved road, where he then hitched a ride down to the St. Marks lighthouse. At the time, the Coast Guard had a manned station at that location. The man told authorities that he wasn't sure what caused the plane to go down, but he thought it was probably struck by lightning. Crash crews from the Dale Mabry Airfield (present-day site of Tallahassee Community College) and the St. Marks lighthouse Coast Guard Station combed the area about four miles east of the lighthouse. They found that fire had destroyed most of the plane.
The crash was headline news in Tallahassee's Daily Democrat on July 31, 1944: "Flying Fortress Crashes Near St. Marks". The incident happened about 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon during a heavy thunderstorm. J.Y. Gresham, in charge of the St. Marks lighthouse, described the swamp where the plane crashed as "dense and muddy."
~
Inscription
2LT, US ARMY AIR FORCES WORLD WAR II
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
