Atlantic Ocean – April 25, 1945

Atlantic Ocean – April 25, 1945

 

U.S. Navy Grumman Avenger
U.S. Navy Photo

     On the night of April 25, 1945, a navy TBM-3E Avenger, (Bu. No. 68997), with three men aboard, was taking part in a night gunnery strafing exercise six miles south of Nantucket Island when it failed to come out of a dive and crashed in the water.  All aboard perished. 

     Pilot: Ensign Roy Bacon, Jr. – Missing.

     ARM3/c Forest Edward Schultz, 18.  He enlisted on his 17th birthday, January 13, 1944.  He’s buried in Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Cemetery, in Kittery, Maine.  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/71686404/forest-edward-schultz

     ARM3/c Eugene A. Sands, 19, of Illinois – Missing

     The men were assigned to Night Torpedo Squadron 52, VT(n)-52, at Martha’s Vineyard Auxiliary Naval Air Station. 

     Sources:

     U. S. Navy Accident Report dated April 25, 1945

     The Waterbury Democrat, (Ct.), “Torpedo Bomber Mishap Kills 3”, April 25, 1945, pg. 1

 

 

 

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