Atlantic Ocean – January 20, 1945
On the night of January 20, 1945, Ensign Robert Edward Swenson, (21), took off from the Charlestown Auxiliary Naval Air Field in an F6F-5e Hellcat, (Bu. No. 72587), for a training flight over the Atlantic Ocean about three miles southeast of Block Island. He was part of a two aircraft flight practicing low altitude interception with a target aircraft. It was during this exercise that Ens. Swenson’s aircraft crashed and exploded in the water. Neither he nor his airplane were recovered.
Ensign Swenson was assigned to Night Fighting Squadron 91.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/245988209/robert-edward-swenson
Sources
Information supplied by Larry Webster, aviation historian.
www.findagrave.com