Private Ralph L. Martin was assigned to the Combat Crew Training Squadron, 233rd Army Air Force Base Unit, Davis-Monthan AAF, Arizona, for training with the B29 Superfortress. On the night of 30 Jun 1945, he was a member of the twelve man crew of B29A #44-69943 on a 3,000 mile night time cross country navigation flight from Davis-Monthan Field to Mobile, Alabama and back. The aircraft was to fly at 11,000 feet until Pecos, Texas, where it would descend at 100 feet per minute until it was 1,000 above the terrain, and continue at this altitude to Mobile, Alabama. This would keep the aircraft above the 8,700 foot high mountains 100 miles east of El Paso.
At 10:40 pm an American Airlines pilot reported he saw a huge fireball below him and believed it was a large aircraft that had impacted the side of a mountain, 6 miles South of Guadalupe Peak, southeast of Pine Springs, Texas. This was the B29A that Private Martin was on. There were no survivors. (Information provided by Harry Bryan)
At 10:40 pm an American Airlines pilot reported he saw a huge fireball below him and believed it was a large aircraft that had impacted the side of a mountain, 6 miles South of Guadalupe Peak, southeast of Pine Springs, Texas. This was the B29A that Private Martin was on. There were no survivors. (Information provided by Harry Bryan)
Private Ralph L. Martin was assigned to the Combat Crew Training Squadron, 233rd Army Air Force Base Unit, Davis-Monthan AAF, Arizona, for training with the B29 Superfortress. On the night of 30 Jun 1945, he was a member of the twelve man crew of B29A #44-69943 on a 3,000 mile night time cross country navigation flight from Davis-Monthan Field to Mobile, Alabama and back. The aircraft was to fly at 11,000 feet until Pecos, Texas, where it would descend at 100 feet per minute until it was 1,000 above the terrain, and continue at this altitude to Mobile, Alabama. This would keep the aircraft above the 8,700 foot high mountains 100 miles east of El Paso.
At 10:40 pm an American Airlines pilot reported he saw a huge fireball below him and believed it was a large aircraft that had impacted the side of a mountain, 6 miles South of Guadalupe Peak, southeast of Pine Springs, Texas. This was the B29A that Private Martin was on. There were no survivors. (Information provided by Harry Bryan)
At 10:40 pm an American Airlines pilot reported he saw a huge fireball below him and believed it was a large aircraft that had impacted the side of a mountain, 6 miles South of Guadalupe Peak, southeast of Pine Springs, Texas. This was the B29A that Private Martin was on. There were no survivors. (Information provided by Harry Bryan)
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Illinois - CPL 233 AAF Base Unit 2 AF
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