WWII letter to the parents of a crewman lost in air combat training:
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"He did not lay down his life upon the field of battle, but his sacrifice is the same. He was preparing himself to defend those liberties and principles which had been taught to him from his early youth and which were a part of his very being. This may be small consolation to you in your bereavement, but you may well be proud both of his life and of his death."
Friends of the Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum
B-24J 42-100023, lost on Casper Mountain, WY, June 17, 1944, Zorn crew​​
Consolidated B-24E
42-7066
2nd Lt. Eugene Ravera and crew
Lost on March 2, 1944
331st Combat Crew Training Squadron,
based at Casper Army Air Base (CAAB), Wyoming
Capt. Charles W. Bley, instructor pilot
2nd Lt. Eugene Ravera, student pilot
2nd Lt. John A. Williams, student copilot
Sgt. Vernon E. Arne, engineer
Sgt. George P. Peterson, asst. engineer
SSgt. Carl E. Cleland, gunnery instructor
Cpl. Elmer L. Walters, gunner
Sgt. Duane T. Zetah, gunner
​Background. B-24E 42-7066 had taken off from CAAB, only to return a short time later when three airmen became airsick. The aircraft departed the Casper area a second time on a NE heading toward a practice range. ​
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At 1623 MWT, after having flown about 19 miles, the aircraft was seen from other planes to enter a flat spin and collide with terrain, bursting into flames. There were no survivors. The ranch owner (Cooper) witnessed the crash. No cause was ever established.
Capt. Charles W. Bley, instructor pilot, was a highly decorated combat veteran, serving as a B-24 pilot in the Mediterranean theater. His Distinguish Flying Cross with eight Oak Leaf Clusters was accorded him for going to the rescue of another plane with two engines shot out over Catania, Sicily.
Capt. Bley participated in Operation Tidal Wave, in which he successfully flew the very dangerous low-level Ploesti oil field raid of August 1, 1943. Capt. Bley was also awarded the Air Medal and Purple Heart. He became an instructor pilot at CAAB in November 1943.