ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 108199
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| Date: | Monday 17 January 1944 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Lockheed P-38J Lightning |
| Owner/operator: | 474th FGp USAAF |
| Registration: | 42-67693 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 3 Miles East of Lomita Flight Strip, CA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Unknown |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
In 1941, the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads purchased 480 acres of the Weston Ranch property in what was then Lomita for $380,000 and began developing it as an airstrip as part of a government program to encourage civil air transportation projects, building a 150-foot by 5000-foot runway on the site.
Following the U.S. entry into World War II after Pearl Harbor, all civil aviation within 200 miles of the Pacific Coast was shut down, and many existing facilities were adapted to military uses.
In 1942, the U.S. Corps of Engineers acquired the air strip from the Bureau of Public Roads, adding barracks and other military buildings, and the Lomita Flight Strip was born. It would became an important training facility for P-38 Lightning and, later, P-51 Mustang fighter pilots preparing for duty in the South Pacific.
From June 1942 until April 1944, Army Air Corps squadrons would practice for warfare by flying around the South Bay coast and strafing the Pacific Ocean in training runs. The outfits that trained at the Lomita Flight Strip included the 479th Fighter Group of the 8th Air Force, the 429th and 434th Fighter Squadrons, the 55th Pursuit Squadron and the 101st Squadron, Army Air Communications Systems.
On January 17, 1944, 2nd Lt Merle Vernon Ogden of 429th Fighter Squadron, 474th Fighter Group, discovered that he couldn’t lower his landing gear as he returned from a test flight of his P-38J 42-67693 to the Lomita Flight Strip. He subsequently ran out of fuel and crashed into Lomita resident William Klusman’s victory garden, three miles east of Lomita Flight Strip. Ogden died instantly.
Sources:
http://blogs.dailybreeze.com/history/2009/12/02/lomita-flight-strip/
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/AARmonthly/Jan1944S.htm
http://iagenweb.org/boards/mitchell/obituaries/index.cgi?read=115073
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomita_Landing_Strip
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomita,_California
http://www.maplandia.com/united-states/california/los-angeles-county/lomita/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 18-Jan-2016 07:57 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Source, Narrative] |
| 28-Mar-2020 19:33 | Xindel XL | Updated [Operator, Location, Operator] |
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