MIDLAND, Texas (September 19, 2004) – A ceremony honoring the crew of a B-24D Liberator that crashed on its maiden flight to the war zone in Australia from San Diego on Dec. 18, 1942, will be held at approximately 2 p.m., Friday, Oct. 1, 2004, in the CAF Memorial Garden. Air Group One, a CAF unit located in San Diego , Calif. , will place a plaque in the garden dedicated to the memory of the crew that was killed in the crash. Carl Silber, a CAF member and son of one of the crewmen killed in that ceremony, will preside at the ceremony.

The B-24D, named Texas Terror , was assigned to the 90 th Bomb Group, Jolly Rogers, 400 Squadron. The airplane developed mechanical trouble while flying the final leg of the flight over Cairnes , Australia and the crew decided to return to Garbutt Field in Townsville , Australia . As the plane passed over Ingham, it encountered a fierce electrical storm and crashed into a 3,000-foot mountain on Hinchinbrook Island in the Coral Sea . All crew on board were killed. Several years after the crash, the plane was found and the U.S. Army collected the remains of the airmen and returned them for burial at Ft. McPherson National Cemetery in Nebraska .

Family of the crew expected to attend the ceremony include Col. Carl H. Silber, Jr., son of Capt.Carl H. Silber; Lt. Col. Carl H. Silber III, grandson of Capt. Carl H. Silber; James Gumaer III, son of Capt. James Gumaer Jr., pilot of the Texas Terror; John Hooper, nephew of Lt. Dewey Hooper, copilot of the Texas Terror and Lynn Cooper, nephew of Lt. Lynn Cooper.

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