Double Oak Mountain - Birmingham, Alabama
This is the story of a B26b Medium Bomber based out of MacDill AFB in Florida and the tragic end to six young men's lives.
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Researched and Written by:
AGenealogyLady AKA Michele Jackson With Contributing Information from: Maxwell AFB; National Archives at Atlanta Dal Livesay, Janice Wright, Christine Coe |
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Recently I was made aware of a post someone made about a B-26 medium bomber crash outside of Birmingham, Alabama. I looked at the messages and saw that while people were aware that there had been an accident, had seen the site, had even scavenged debris from the area, that no memorial or marker had denoted it's place. Several people showed interest in memorializing this site and currently, contacts are being made to do so. If you have any desire to donate and help with this, please feel free to contact me for more information.
As much as I'd like to say that word of mouth will memorialize an event, it will not pass on forever. After working closely with the dedicated members of the Katy-did Crash, I've realized just how much these memorials mean to a community and to the family left behind. It is not only essential to mark the place where such tragic events happened involving those who gave their lives for service to our country, but to let the community know that there were real people here, who they were and how their lives ended so tragically. This aircraft had a tail number of 41-17836 but I am currently unsure of any name or nose art it may have had. No image is found at this time. But keep in mind that research on my part, is only just in the first few days. The crash happened 15 miles SE of Birmingham in an area known as Oak Mountain. This crash report, previously placed online, indicates the conditions of the crash and to some extent the cause.
Mystery Needs Solved:
Can you Help Identify these men? Are they the six men who crashed together? Send me a message if you know one of these men. (2) 
This image was in the possession of Reynold Drott's family. It is unknown if these are the six men that crashed. If you have any information about the individuals in this image, Please contact me.
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Meet the young men who perished on the B26-b Medium Bomber on Oak Mountain
Sgt. Reynold John Drott - Photo by Janice Wright (2)
2Lt. William "Bill" Frederick Wade -photo provided from Ancestry.com U.S.School Yearbooks -Los Angeles Jr. College.
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Footnotes:
1. Newspapers.com - Most newspaper articles are from this source.
2. Photos courtesy of Janice Wright
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1. Newspapers.com - Most newspaper articles are from this source.
2. Photos courtesy of Janice Wright
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