media-37110.jpeg UPL 37110 Capt James E. Buckley, James E. Buckley was born on the 23rd of April, 1918, in Ancon, Panama Canal Zone. The following year his family moved to Troy, N. Y., and there he spent his boyhood.

After graduating from Catholic Central High School in Troy, he spent two years at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and while there decided to try for West Point. A year at Stanton Preparatory School paved the way for his admission to the Academy with the class of '42. Upon graduation he was accepted in the Air Corps for flight training at Corsicana, Randolph Field and Foster Fields He earned his wings and he was ordered to Moore Field, Mission, Texas for a fighter transition course. He had wanted to undergo bomber training, but was sent instead to a P-47 squadron. After a short tour of duty on the East Coast his squadron was transferred to the United Kingdom in 1943 for combat duty in the E.T.O.

Captain Buckley was killed while returning from a combat mission over the North Sea. While at high altitude, flying through a solid overcast on instruments. Captain Buckley's ship started a gradual dive straight ahead, still in the overcast which gradually steepened and then started turning to the left as he went down. The other pilot followed him down until the ship started turning, and he could no longer stay with him. They were last seen disappearing downward out of sight. The flight, lost over the North Sea without a trace.

Michel Beckers WW2CRASHSITERESEARCH