Second Lieutenant Bucek was the pilot of U.S. Army Air Corps B-24D Liberator

#42-40427, serving with the 212th Base Unit Combat Crew Training Squadron from Gowen Field, Idaho.

While on the return leg of a training flight which took the crew from Idaho to

Hamilton Field in California, the bomber collided with a ridgeline in the Pueblo

Mountain Range, five miles north of Denio, Nevada, but on the Oregon side of the stateline.

All eleven crew perished.

It took Army recovery crews three days to locate the remote wreckage and recover the bodies.

The crew members killed were:

2nd Lt. Allen D Blake co-pilot, Aurora, Ill.

Flt. Off. Anton Pecnik Two Rivers, Wis.

Flt. Off. Roy L Pierson Cadillac, Mich.

T/Sgt. Ernest E Kampinen Ashtabula, Ohio

S/Sgt. Dean H Sautter Grand Rapids, Ohio

Cpl. Edmund J Green Stratton, Colo.

Cpl. Arthur G Manchester Lockport, N.Y.

Pfc. Sidney M Davis Brooklyn, N.Y.

Pfc. Carl E McDaniel Troy, Ohio

Pfc. George B Wilkins, Jr Rockville, N.Y.

B-24D Liberator #42-40427, serving with the 212th Base Unit Combat Crew Training Squadron from Gowen Field, Idaho.

CREW

KAMPINEN ERNEST Edwin 15015084 ASHTABULA OHIO https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14433624 https://www.fold3.com/memorial/84134560/ernest-e-kampinen

SAUTTER DEAN Hayes 15013133 GRAND RAPIDS MICHIGAN https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14433981 https://www.fold3.com/memorial/84132636/dean-h-sautter

WILKINS GEORGE Barnum 12028083 ROCKVILLE, OCEANSIDE NY https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14433942 https://www.fold3.com/memorial/83505844/george-b-wilkins-jr

Edward A Bucek