World War II Honoree

Carl W. Hartley

Hometown

Granger, Indiana

Honored By

Jerry Penry

SERVED AS A CIVILIAN TEST PILOT FOR THE GLENN L. MARTIN BOMBER PLANT, BELLEVUE, NEBRASKA. KILLED MAY 25, 1942 ALONG WITH THE COPILOT DURING A TEST FLIGHT IN A B-26 ‘MARAUDER’ MEDIUM BOMBER. THE BOMBER HAD TAKEN OFF FROM THE OFFUTT ARMY AIRFIELD AND HAD PREFORMED A SERIES OF STEEP CLIMBS AND DIVES WHEN IT SUFFERED A STRUCTURAL FAILURE OF THE TAIL SECTION. THE AIRCRAFT WAS IN A STEEP CLIMBING MANEUVER WHEN THE PILOT’S CANOPY LATCH FAILED, ALLOWING THE CANOPY TO SEPARATE FROM THE AIRPLANE, STRIKING AND DAMAGING THE TAIL SECTION. THE PILOTS THEN LOST CONTROL OF THE AIRCRAFT, WHICH WENT INTO A DIVE AND CRASHED INTO A FIELD WEST OF THE AIRFIELD.