Naper, NE Area Plane Crash, Aug 1944

28 Men Killed in Plane Crash

Big Transport Down in Nebraska Hills

ATKINSON, Neb. (AP) – Twenty-eight men, including 24 pilots being ferried from the Bruning, Neb., army air base to the Pierre, S. D., army air base, and four crew members were killed Thursday night when their C-47 transport plane crashed, an investigating board of army officers learned Friday on arrival at the scene of the crash in an isolated area southwest of Naper near the Nebraska-South Dakota border.
The names of the victims will be released later, army officers said.
By horse and wagon bodies were being brought from the wreckage a distance of two miles to the highway. The wreckage was scattered over an area of about two miles.
An investigation board of officers arrived here Friday morning and proceeded by car to the scene of the crash, in a hilly rugged section not easily accessible. The high prairie country and flooded creeks, with deep gullies near the Niobrara river, impeded the rescue work.
The plane crashed near the Niobrara river on the CONNIE SATTLER ranch, 45 miles northwest of Atkinson in north central Nebraska.
HARRY HELENBOLT and MRS. HENRY FEE, farm residents, said they “saw the plane come out of a small but 'very violent cloud' at about 8:30 p. m. during an electrical storm,” Thursday night. They said the motors sounded as though the plane was in trouble, and after a flash of lightning it appeared the plane was burning from the bottom. The tail, they said, seemed to come off in pieces and later one wing fell off and landed on its back in a gully.

Council Bluffs Nonpareil Iowa 1944-08-04

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28 OFFICERS DIE IN PLANE CRASH
BRUNING ARMY AIR FIELD, Neb – UP – List of casualties:
Capt. STANLEY J. MEADOWS, Grimes, Neb.
Capt. ROBERT K. BOHLE, Claremont, S. D.
Capt. LESLIE B. ROBERTS, Brooklyn, N. Y.
First Lieut. LLOYD L. HEMPHILL, Joplin, Mo.
First Lieut. CLAYTON R. JOLLEY, Del Ray, Calif.
First Lieut. LEONARD C. JOLLEY (twin brother of First Lieut. CLAYTON JOLLEY), Fresno, Calif.
Second Lieut. BRUCE S. PATTERSON, Cleveland, O.
Second Lieut. HERBERT A. BLAKESLEE, Eddyville, Neb.
Second Lieut. RICHARD E. BROWN, San Leandro, Callif.
Second Lieut. JACK E. LYTLE, Morton, Tex.
Second Lieut. WILLIAM G. ARMSTRONG, Mineral, Ill.
Second Lieut. GEORGE E. BOECKMANN, Charlotte, N. C.
Second Lieut. JACK L. BROWN, Milwaukee, Ore.
Second Lieut. JAMES C. BURKE, JR., Milton, Mass.
Second Lieut. ROBERT E. NESBITT, Chicago, Ill.
Second Lieut. CHARLES V. PORTER, Prosper, Tex.
Second Lieut. WILLIAM F. ACREE, Fairbury, Neb.
Second Lieut. MILLARD F. ARNETT, JR., Farrmont, W. Va.
Second Lieut. LAVON SEHORN, Klamath Falls, Ore.
Second Lieut. ARTHUR JOHNSON, San Diego, Calif.
Second Lieut. GERALD C. KELLER, Middletown, Md.
Second Lieut. ANTHONY PALADINO, Los Angeles, Calif.
Second Lieut. PAT N. ROBERTS, JR., McKinney, Tex.
Second Lieut. BERNARD W. O'MALLEY, Little Rock, Ark.
Second Lieut. LELAN A POPE, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Flight Officer JOHN F. ALBERT, Chicago, Ill.
Sgt. ORSON H. HUISLAR, Springfield, O.

The Wisconsin State Journal Madison Wisconsin 1944-08-05

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Crash Victims All Identified

Army Officials Probe Transport Plane Crash

BRUNING, Neb., (AP) – Three Nebraskans and one South Dakotan were among the 28 victims of the state's costliest airplane accident – the crash of a C-47 army transport plane which Thursday night killed 24 pilots and four crewmen.
The last of the bodies of the victims was removed from the wreckage and identified Friday night, but an official army board of inquiry from the Bruning army air field continued the grim task of probing the wreckage southeast of Naper, Neb., near the Nebraska-South Dakota border.
The victims, whose names were released early Saturday by the Bruning base, included Capt. STANLEY J. MEADOWS, a pilot, husband of Mrs. Stanley J. Meadows, Grimes, Ia.; Capt. ROBERT K. BOHLE, husband of Mrs. Delores E. Bohle, Claremont, S. D.; 2nd Lt. HERBERT A. BALKESLEE, son of Walter B. Blakeslee, Eddyville, Neb., 2nd Lt. WILLIAM F. ACREE, Fairbury, Neb.; and Twin Brothers, 1st Lt. CLAYTON R. JOLLEY and 1st Lt. LEONARD C. JOLLEY of Del Rey, Calif.
The plane was ferrying the pilots to Pierre, S. D., from Bruning. Army officials said all the bodies were found within 75 feet of the main part of the wreckage. Eyewitness accounts said the plane was caught in a severe electrical storm.

Council Bluffs Nonpareil Iowa 1944-08-05
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!