Off Cape Cod – July 19, 1944
U.S. Navy TBM Avengers
National Archives Photo
At about 10:45 p.m., on the night of July 19, 1944, an unspecified number of navy airplanes were conducting night training maneuvers off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, when two aircraft, both TBM-1C Avengers, were involved in a mid-air collision.
One plane, (Bu. No. 45716), was able to make it back safely to Otis Air Field in Falmouth, Massachusetts; the other, (Bu. No. 45706), plunged into the sea and both men aboard were lost and never recovered. They were identified as:
(Pilot) Ensign Leo Henry Reimers, 22, of Yamhill, Oregon. There is a memorial to Ensign Reimers in Willamette National Cemetery, in Portland, Oregon. To see a photo, and learn more information about Ensign Reimers, see www.findagrave.com, Memorial, # 36351469.)
Aviation Radioman 3/c Herbert W. Burke, of Milton, Oregon.
Sources:
The Register-Guard, (Eugene, Ore.), “Two Oregon Fliers Lost Off Cape Cod.”
www.findagrave.com
