Aeroflite

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

The crew departed Cody in the afternoon in a firefighting mission in the region of Dubois. While completing a pullup from a swath run, the crew lost control of the airplane that crashed on the slope of a mountain. Both pilots were killed.

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

Shortly after takeoff from Kalispell Airport while on a firefighting mission, the copilot informed ground that the engine number three caught fire and elected to return for an emergency landing. Fire spread quickly to the right wing and the crew realized he could not make it so the captain attempted an emergency landing in an open field located near the airport. The airplane crash landed and came to rest in flames. While both crew members were uninjured, the aircraft was destroyed.