This day would see a tragic airborne accident befall crews of the Group which occurred on a local practice mission and involved a crew from the 579th and 576th Squadrons. Little information is available from all records available to this research effort on the exact circumstances surrounding the mid-air collision of the two aircraft. Through a detailed examination of different source materials, including crew loading lists before and after this mishap as well as cemetery burial listings for the 392nd, the following accounting of crew member fatalities was judged conclusively to be the most accurate and correct assessment regarding these two crew losses on this date. Deaths involved were eleven (11) crewmen, five (5) on the 576th crew and six (6) on the 579th’s, as tabulated below.

1/LT Reese, R.L. (P) 576th KILD
2/LT lannotta, J.S. (CP) 576th KILD
F/O Minzenberg, W.O. (N) 576th KILD
S/S Thornton, M. (MNI) (G) 576th KILD
S/S Patzmann, R.O.E. (G) 576th KILD 
This aircrew was flying B-24H Model #41-28731, Call Letter "V", no nickname of record, which ship had completed (7) combat missions up to this local practice sortie. The plane suffered a mid-air collision with the 579th aircraft while returning from a Group practice mission around 1130 hours. Four (4) crew members managed to safely bail out of this stricken Liberator (and would crew up to fly again later on other 392nd crews): 2/Lt. J.E. Walters; Sgt. W.R. Blankham; Sgt. E. (NMI) Ellis; and Sgt. D.H. Schumaker. On burial information, Lt. Joseph S. Iannotta is interred at CAMBRIDGE, England in Grave G-7-2 and was awarded an Air Medal but no Purple Heart is indicated. The interments of the other deceased members is not known from the records. Lt. lannotta’s home State was New York.

2/LT Fidel, P.M. (P) 579th KILD
2/LT Fitzgerald, RM. (CP) 579th KILD
2/LT Levine, G.S. (N) 579th KILD
S/S Rasmussen, M.D. (G) 579th KILD
S/S Causey, W.W. (G) 579th KILD
SGT McCormick, S.G. (G) 579th KILD 
Lt. Fidel’s crew was flying B-24H Model #42-95092, Call Letter "Bar T" with no nickname of record. This plane had completed a total of (4) combat missions up to this accident. After the mid-air collision with the Reese aircraft, it crashed and burned near the village of Foxley, Norfolk. Three (3) crewmen survived this mishap and bailed out safely: 2/Lt. Q.S. Fletcher, Sgt. S.J. Placht, and Sgt. RE. Zollinger. Two (2) of the fatalities are buried in the U.S National (overseas) Cemetery at CAMBRIDGE, England: Lt Paul M. Fidel in Grave F-3-26 and Sgt. Warren W. Causey in Grave C-2-52. Lt. Fidel’s awards were one Air Medal, but no Purple Heart citation is noted and Sgt. Causey’s citation also is an Air Medal with no indication of a Purple Heart award. Lt. Fidel had a home State of record of California while Sgt. Causey’s was Indiana.