Command Failure

With world war raging in Asia, Africa, and Europe, in late October-early November, 1941 the United States Army Air Forces precipitated a crushing national security disaster. During a "routine" defense-training mission from the east coast to the west 19 members of the 57th Pursuit Group and 52nd Pursuit Group lost four dead, four missing, and over a dozen more P-40 Tomahawk aircraft destroyed or rendered inoperable while traveling to the Pacific Northwest.

So many aircraft and pilots were lost that the eastern seaboard and Great Lakes defensive posture were rendered hors de combat.

It has ingloriously come down in history as "The Day it Rained P-40s."

Was it bad weather that caused the disaster? Poor planning? Bankrupt leadership? Incomplete training? Inexperience? Was it hubris? Has history been uneven, unhelpful, and unkind to those who lived the event?

This is the true story of what happened during

Command Failure

The US Army Air Forces' Worst Peacetime Disaster

Left to right in the above image are flyers from the 57th Pursuit Group. They are:

1. Thomas W. Clark

2. Jack C. West

3. Russell Eugene Speckman

4. Glade S. Bilby

5. Robert A. Barnum

6. Wynn D. Miller

7. Earl B. Young

8. Clayton B. Hughes

9. Peter G. McGoldrick

10. Frank H. Mears

11. Gordon F. Thomas

12. Thomas Leroy Truax

13. Weldon E. Veteto