Journal 42: Memorial in the Pines: The Forgotten Bomber of 1943

High above and hidden in the folds of the forest, lies one of the valley’s most somber secrets. In 1943, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 bomber lifted off from Clovis, New Mexico, on a round-trip training exercise to Pueblo, Colorado, and never returned. Although the wreckage still lingers, the forest has become both gravesite and memorial, a place where the sacrifice of eight young airmen is remembered with reverence on this Memorial Day weekend.

Lost Above the Valley

At 7:49 p.m. on March 25, 1943, the B-24 Liberator bomber lifted off from Clovis Army Air Base into the cool New Mexico night. (1) Their orders were routine: a navigation training flight to Pueblo and back, expected to take less than two hours from taxi to landing.(2) (3) For the young airmen, it should have been a short exercise and just one more step in the relentless pace of wartime training that filled their days.

Inside the cockpit, 1st Lt. George Wiggins adjusted the throttles, the steady hum of four Pratt & Whitney engines filling the night. Beside him, 2nd Lt. William Bowerman reviewed the gauges, the needles quivering under the strain of takeoff power. In the cramped compartment behind them, navigator John Crowley unfolded his charts while bombardier Hoyt Phelps leaned against the window, watching the lights of Clovis fade into darkness. The engineers, Walter Ciesielski and Franklin Bynum, moved down the fuselage, listening for changes in pitch or vibration. Near the radio set, Sergeants Walter Dymond and Edward Foley strained through static, waiting for their first call sign.

The flight was smooth at first, but the farther north they flew, the darker and heavier the sky became. As the aircraft crossed into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the weather shifted with sudden ferocity. The altimeter needles ticked down, and soon the crew was flying blind entirely on instruments in a dark blizzard.(4)

The storm swallowed them whole. Beyond the windshield, snow streaked past in blinding torrents, erasing the horizon and turning the world into a white void. The dials told them they were level, but every instinct screamed otherwise. Wind buffeted the bomber, rattling its frame, while ice hissed and hammered against the skin. The engines droned beneath the storm’s roar, steady but powerless to break the suffocating white.

The pilots, 1st Lt. George Wiggins and 2nd Lt. William Bowerman, worked their instruments intently, aware of the ridges looming unseen in the darkness. For the navigator and bombardier, plotting courses and checking charts became nearly impossible as the storm distorted bearings. In the cramped fuselage, the engineers and radio operators listened to the engines strain while static hissed across the radio. 

Then came the first sickening jolt. Somewhere below, unseen in the dark, the wing tips began clipping treetops. Each strike was a violent snap, wood shattering against metal, the bomber shuddered as if recoiling from the blows.

In the seconds that followed, chaos erupted inside the fuselage. Perhaps six of the crewmen scrambled toward the hatches, fumbling with parachutes in the frantic hope of escape. The pilot stayed fixed at the controls, refusing to leave his seat, fighting with every ounce of strength to lift the big bomber over the ridge that he could not see.

Then came the final moment. In a straight and level attitude at cruising speed, the bomber struck the mountainside at more than 11,000 feet.(5) Ranchers below later recalled hearing the thunder of low-flying aircraft and then the sudden eruption of an explosion that lit up the mountainside.(6)

The final impact scattered wreckage across five acres of snowy ridgeline.(7) The pilot remained strapped in his seat, a testament to his determination to keep the bomber aloft until the last second.(8) All eight crew members perished together, their mission ending in the unforgiving terrain of the National Forrest.(9)

Today, fragments of that Liberator B-24 still lie on a ridge 17 miles south of Pinehaven, weathered but enduring. Hikers who claw their way up that steep ridge still find pieces of twisted aluminum resting where they fell in 1943. The storm has long since passed, but the mountain holds their story, one of young men who lifted into the sky for training and met their final test in darkness, snow, and fire.

The “Plane” Facts

In the aftermath of the tragedy, questions arose: What kind of plane was it? What went wrong? And how does this crash fit into the larger picture of the war? The wreckage still whispers from the mountainside, but its story echoes far beyond Cuchara. This was no isolated tragedy. It was a chapter in the greater saga of World War II, a conflict where ordinary men bore extraordinary burdens in humanity’s struggle against tyranny. 

The aircraft was a Consolidated B-24 Liberator, the rugged workhorse of the American air fleet in World War II.(10) Introduced in 1939, it quickly became the most-produced combat aircraft of the war, with more than 18,000 built.(11) Its signature twin tail and innovative “Davis wing” gave it long range and surprising efficiency, while four powerful Pratt & Whitney radial engines allowed it to carry up to 8,000 pounds of bombs. The B-24 was as versatile as it was numerous and it flew missions across every theater of the war. From pounding industrial targets over Europe, to hunting submarines in the Atlantic, to launching long-range strikes deep into the Pacific, the Liberator earned its place in history as one of the defining aircraft of the Allied victory.(12)

The flight plan was simple: depart Clovis Army Air Base in New Mexico at 7:49 p.m., fly a navigation route to Pueblo, Colorado, and return. The routine training mission was expected to take less than two hours from taxi to landing.(13) But routine quickly unraveled. Not long after takeoff, the B-24 flew into the unpredictable weather that haunts the Spanish Peaks, where snow and blinding darkness turned the night treacherous. Investigators later concluded that a combination of severe weather and a failing instrument panel likely led to navigational error.(14) Flying blind on instruments, the bomber stayed level and steady until it met the mountainside head-on at cruising speed. The impact ripped through the ridge in an explosion of fire and steel, ending the mission within seconds.(15)

The first reports from the crash site claimed that seven men had lost their lives. But the following day, the grim truth emerged and all eight airmen aboard had perished, with no survivors.(16) The Rocky Mountain News soon published the names of the fallen crew:(17)

• 1st Lt. George W. Wiggins, 27 years, Corpus Christi, TX, Pilot

• 2nd Lt. William R. Bowerman, 26 years, Long Beach, CA, Co-Pilot

• 2nd Lt. John T. Crowley, 24 years, Des Moines, IA, Navigator

• 2nd Lt. Hoyt A. Phelps, 21 years, Lovell, MI, Bombardier

• S/Sgt. Walter S. Ciesielski, 24 years, South Bend, IN, Flight Engineer

• S/Sgt. Franklin O. Bynum, 21 years, Sweetwater, TX, Assistant Engineer

• Sgt. Walter G. Dymond, 31 years, Millton, New York, Radio Operator

• Sgt. Edward P. Foley, 21 years, New York City, New York, Assistant Radio Operator

The average age of the eight men who perished that night was just 24. (18) It is a sobering reminder of the youth so often called upon to bear the weight of freedom. They were barely out of adolescence, yet willing to step forward into service, surrendering the best years of their lives so that others might live out theirs in liberty. Their loss was not in vain; even in training, their sacrifice became part of the greater strength that carried a nation through war. To honor them is to see more than uniforms and ranks, it is to remember young men who gave up life’s brightest years. Their story calls us to regard such places as sacred ground and to cherish the freedoms purchased at so great a cost.

A contemporaneous account in the Rocky Mountain News described how an Army detachment braved timber and snow to reach the wreckage of a bomber that had struck an 11,000-foot ridge in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of southern Colorado.(19) Local ranchers recalled hearing the roar of a low-flying aircraft, followed by a sudden explosion that illuminated the mountainside.(20)

One of the first to reach the scene, a Highway Patrolman described how the bomber had slashed through treetops for nearly 150 yards before tearing into the mountainside and erupting in flames just short of the ridgeline.(21) The violent impact scattered wreckage across acres of unforgiving terrain. Evidence told a haunting story. Six crewmen appeared to have made desperate attempts to escape, while the pilot remained belted to his seat, a final and unshakable testament to his duty at the controls.(22) The wreckage still lies in the forest on a high ridge above a mountain stream in the San Isabel National Forest.(23)

The official crash report determined that the B-24 accident was caused by a combination of restricted visibility at night,

navigational error, and insufficient altitude, which together led the aircraft to collide with rising terrain.(24)  According to Brian Richardson, safety program manager with the Federal Aviation Administration and an aviation archaeologist with the Colorado Aviation Historical Society, no year was more deadly for U.S. military aviation than 1943.(25) With the nation mobilizing for the final push to secure victory in World War II, training flights, new aircraft production, and nonstop operations created conditions that led to the highest number of accidents across every armed forces branch. 

The Pueblo Army Air Base, which trained hundreds of B-24 crews during the war, kept records of this loss. Combined with the stories preserved by local guides, those reports keep alive the memory of young airmen whose mission ended on a quiet mountain above Cuchara. For Pinehaven residents living in this area, the crash is more than an obscure footnote, it is part of the hidden history woven into the landscape we now call home.

History is Our Teacher

For more than eighty years, fragments of the wreck have remained scattered across the slope, silent, twisted reminders of lives cut short. It would be easy to dismiss this tragedy as a relic of another era, but to do so would overlook its relevance to us today. The crash still speaks, but what does it say?

Honor is important. The men who perished on our mountain are not faceless statistics but young airmen prepared to serve and defend in a world at war. They died training for missions they would never fly, yet their sacrifice is woven into the broader story of freedom. To honor them is to acknowledge that even in our quiet mountain valleys, lives were given for causes larger than themselves.

History is local. The bomber crash also reminds us that no corner of America was untouched by World War II. The war is often remembered in terms of battles fought in Europe or the Pacific, but the valleys of Cuchara were part of that story too. The Pueblo Army Air Base trained hundreds of B-24 crews, and one training flight ended tragically not far from Cuchara.(26)(27) Some hiking enthusiasts walk the “Bomber Hike” each year to see the debris and to recognize that the history of world conflict is carved into the same mountains where we ski, hike, and build our cabins.(28)

The past is our mentor. The accident also teaches lessons about risk, weather, and technology. The unforgiving terrain of the Sangre de Cristo range, combined with the demands of wartime urgency, created conditions ripe for disaster. Aviation has since advanced dramatically in navigation, forecasting, and safety protocols. This progress was born in part from hard-learned lessons like this one.(29)

Stewardship demands respect. The remnants of the B-24 are more than scattered metal; they are protected artifacts. Federal law requires visitors to leave them undisturbed, a reminder that history is fragile and belongs to all of us.(30) WWII crash sites are more than history, they are hallowed ground. This ridge holds the sacrifice of those who gave their lives for our freedom. Please honor them by leaving artifacts undisturbed, preserving both their memory and the story for future generations.(31)

The past anchors us to the land. This story deepens our sense of place. For Pinehaven residents, the bomber is not just an obscure footnote but part of the hidden history of the valley. Knowing the past fosters pride and connection, tying today’s community to the generations who lived, and sometimes died, in these mountains. When we tell the story of the Forgotten Bomber, we stitch our present lives into the fabric of history that runs through the Cuchara Valley.

The bomber’s story is not forgotten because it still matters. It matters for the eight airmen who never returned home. It matters for the way it connects our mountain to a global conflict. It matters for the lessons it teaches and the reverence it demands. And it matters because it reminds us that even in places of beauty and peace, history whispers from the shadows, asking us to remember.(32)

COMPANION RESOURCES: The following two companion resources are available for this post. 

1. Pictures: Pictures of the crash site debris from Cuchara Valley Recreation "Bomber Hike" can be viewed in the photo gallery.

2. Animatic: An animated storyboard brought to life with multimedia can be viewed below as well as in the video gallery. 

  

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Footnotes

Parenthetical numbers in the text (e.g., 5) correspond to the sequentially numbered citations listed below.

1. Anthony J. Mireles, Fatal Army Air Forces Accidents in the United States, 1941–1945, vol. 1 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2006), 317.

2. Estimated flight time from Clovis, New Mexico to Pueblo, Colorado on March 25, 1943 would have been less than two hours from taxi, ascent, descent, and landing.. Estimation based on the following. 

• Great-circle distance (Clovis AAF → Pueblo AAB): ≈ 278 miles.

• Typical B-24 training cruise: about 180–215 mph (crews often cruised below max to save fuel and reduce wear).

• En-route time = distance ÷ groundspeed:

• At 180 mph → ~1.63 hr (98 min)

• At 200 mph → ~1.39 hr (83 min)

• At 215 mph → ~1.29 hr (77 min)

• Add ~10–20 minutes for climb/arrival and any vectoring. If there were headwinds, icing, or weather deviations (very plausible in late March over the Spanish Peaks), it could push toward the upper end (or beyond, if they flew lower/slow due to conditions).

3. Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. Accident Description: Consolidated B-24D Liberator, Spanish Peaks, CO, March 25, 1943,” Aviation Safety Network Wikibase, accessed August 20, 2025, https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/100164.

4. 4 Colorado Hikes That Lead to Aircraft Crash Sites,” Denver Gazette, [accessed August 20, 2025], Denver Gazette, https://denvergazette.com/outtherecolorado/adventures/4-colorado-hikes-that-lead-to-aircraft-crash-sites/article_c6715320-201d-50a3-a221-232cdc1c4182.html

5. Anthony J. Mireles, Fatal Army Air Forces Accidents in the United States, 1941–1945, vol. 1 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2006), 317.

6. “Seven Found Dead in Army Bomber Crash at Trinidad,” Rocky Mountain News (Daily), vol. 84, no. 86 (March 27, 1943), 1.

  

7. “Seven Found Dead in Army Bomber Crash at Trinidad,” Testimony of Highway Patrolman E.

Hammons to the Rocky Mountain News (Daily), vol. 84, no. 86 (March 27, 1943), 1.

8. “Seven Found Dead in Army Bomber Crash at Trinidad,” Testimony of Highway Patrolman E.

Hammons to the Rocky Mountain News (Daily), vol. 84, no. 86 (March 27, 1943), 1.

9. Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO), “8 Bodies Found in Trinidad Crash,” March 28, 1943, vol. 84, no. 87. The Rocky Mountain News reported the deceased crew members as, 

• 1st Lt. George W. Wiggins, 27 years, Corpus Christi, TX, Pilot

• 2nd Lt. William R. Bowerman, 26 years, Long Beach, CA, Co-Pilot

• 2nd Lt. John T. Crowley, 24 years, Des Moines, IA, Navigator

• 2nd Lt. Hoyt A. Phelps, 21 years, Lovell, MI, Bombardier

• S/Sgt. Walter S. Ciesielski, 24 years, South Bend, IN, Flight Engineer

• S/Sgt. Franklin O. Bynum, 21 years, Sweetwater, TX, Assistant Engineer

• Sgt. Walter G. Dymond, 31 years, Millton, New York, Radio Operator

• Sgt. Edward P. Foley, 21 years, New York City, New York, Assistant Radio Operator

10. Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. Accident Description: Consolidated B-24D Liberator, Spanish Peaks, CO, March 25, 1943,” Aviation Safety Network Wikibase, accessed August 20, 2025, https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/100164. 

11. Roger A. Freeman. The B-24 Liberator: The Most Versatile Bomber of World War II. London: Cassell, 1999.

12. U.S. Air Force National Museum. “Consolidated B-24D Liberator.” Accessed August 20, 2025. https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196293/consolidated-b-24d-liberator/

13. Estimated flight time from Clovis, New Mexico to Pueblo, Colorado on March 25, 1943 would have been less than two hours from taxi, ascent, descent, and landing.. Estimation based on the following. 

• Great-circle distance (Clovis AAF → Pueblo AAB): ≈ 278 miles.

• Typical B-24 training cruise: about 180–215 mph (crews often cruised below max to save fuel and reduce wear).

• En-route time = distance ÷ groundspeed:

• At 180 mph → ~1.63 hr (98 min)

• At 200 mph → ~1.39 hr (83 min)

• At 215 mph → ~1.29 hr (77 min)

• Add ~10–20 minutes for climb/arrival and any vectoring. If there were headwinds, icing, or weather deviations (very plausible in late March over the Spanish Peaks), it could push toward the upper end (or beyond, if they flew lower/slow due to conditions).

14. Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. Accident Description: Consolidated B-24D Liberator, Spanish Peaks, CO, March 25, 1943,” Aviation Safety Network Wikibase, accessed August 20, 2025, https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/100164. 

15. Anthony J. Mireles, Fatal Army Air Forces Accidents in the United States, 1941–1945, vol. 1 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2006), 317.

16. Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. Accident Description: Consolidated B-24D Liberator, Spanish Peaks, CO, March 25, 1943,” Aviation Safety Network Wikibase, accessed August 20, 2025, https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/100164. 

17. Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO), “8 Bodies Found in Trinidad Crash,” March 28, 1943, vol. 84, no. 87.

18. Average age of deceased calculation. Birth and death data for the B-24 crash crew were compiled from multiple genealogical and memorial sources: FamilySearch, “George W. Wiggins,” accessed August 20, 2025, https://www.familysearch.org; Find a Grave, “William R. Bowerman,” Memorial ID 56266038, accessed August 20, 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56266038; Find a Grave, “John T. Crowley,” Memorial ID 10043600, accessed August 20, 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10043600; Find a Grave, “Hoyt A. Phelps,” Memorial ID 161355671, accessed August 20, 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/161355671 ; Find a Grave, “Walter S. Ciesielski,” Memorial ID 56435351, accessed August 20, 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56435351; Find a Grave, “Franklin O. Bynum,” Memorial ID 56437088, accessed August 20, 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56437088; Find a Grave, “Walter G. Dymond,” Memorial ID 56437742, accessed August 20, 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56437742; Find a Grave, “Edward P. Foley,” Memorial ID 56438117, accessed August 20, 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56438117.

19. “Seven Found Dead in Army Bomber Crash at Trinidad,” Rocky Mountain News (Daily), vol. 84, no. 86 (March 27, 1943), 1.

20. “Seven Found Dead in Army Bomber Crash at Trinidad,” Rocky Mountain News (Daily), vol. 84, no. 86 (March 27, 1943), 1.

21. “Seven Found Dead in Army Bomber Crash at Trinidad,” Testimony of Highway Patrolman E.

Hammons to the Rocky Mountain News (Daily), vol. 84, no. 86 (March 27, 1943), 1.

22. “Seven Found Dead in Army Bomber Crash at Trinidad,” Testimony of Highway Patrolman E.

Hammons to the Rocky Mountain News (Daily), vol. 84, no. 86 (March 27, 1943), 1.

23. The Bomber Hike, https://cucharavalleyrec.com/summer-schedule/hikes-trails/moderate-to-difficult-hikes/#:~:text=This%20is%20a%20unique%2C%20very,scattered%20across%20the%20mountain%20side

24. U.S. Army Air Forces, Accident Report No. 43-03-25-032, Consolidated B-24 (March 25, 1943), Aviation Archaeological Investigation & Research, accessed September 11, 2025. www.AviationArchaeology.com.

25. Stephanie Butzer, “Plane crashes on Colorado’s trails: The horrors, histories, and — now — hikes,” Denver7, July 25, 2022, https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/plane-crashes-on-colorados-trails-the-horrors-histories-and-now-hikes. 

26. “Pueblo Army Airfield,” “Military Wiki”, Fandom, accessed August 21, 2025, https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Pueblo_Army_Airfield?utm_source=chatgpt.com. 

27. Matthew C. Mezzacappa, “History of Pueblo Army Air Base,” Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum, accessed August 2025, https://pwam.org/history-of-pueblo-army-air-base/.

28. 4 Colorado Hikes That Lead to Aircraft Crash Sites,” Denver Gazette, [accessed August 20, 2025], Denver Gazette, https://denvergazette.com/outtherecolorado/adventures/4-colorado-hikes-that-lead-to-aircraft-crash-sites/article_c6715320-201d-50a3-a221-232cdc1c4182.html

29. John C. Fredrickson, *Training the B-24 Liberator Crews of World War II* (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993).

30. Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, Pub.L. 96-95, 93 Stat. 721, codified at 16 U.S.C. § 470aa–mm. 

31. Brian D. Richardson, Director of Aviation Archaeology (AvAr), Colorado Aviation Historical Society, email to author, August 24, 2025.

32. Author’s note: In preparing this article, the author used AI-assisted tools for research support, proofreading, fact-checking, and stylistic refinement. The narrative, analysis, and historical interpretations are the author’s own, and responsibility for accuracy rests solely with the author. The blog’s research methodology statement is available at:

https://cabininthepinescuchara.blogspot.com/2019/03/methodology-sources-and-use-of-research.html