The tragic event which took the lives of these men occurred immediately after a pre-dawn take-off on the mission to Bordeau-Point De Lusac area, France. The crew appeared to lose power on the two left wing engines, #1 and #2, according to ground observers just as the aircraft broke ground off the northeast end of Runway 05. With the heavy bomb load being carried and before the plane could be "cleaned up" with landing gear retracted, this grave in-flight emergency presented a definite less-than-marginally-safe situation for the Pilots to recover from in any case. The accident took place at 0445 hours as the Group bomber stream continued takeoffs over the burning pyre of this ship. The crew was flying in B-24H Model #42-50446, Call Letter "R-Bar", nicknamed "J.C. POOLHALL" at the time, which plane had completed a total of (92) combat missions up to this crash.



Lt Warner’s crew also was the last aircrew to perish from a mishap during the war.