Memorial

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S/Sgt William J. Peterson was a mechanic before he joined the Air Corps of the Regular Army in Wausau, Wisconsin, on 9 October 1941.

Airplane 42-30257, 42-3316 and 42-30285 were flying in an echelon on a combat mission. Off Heligoland, at a time when visibility was poor, ship 30257 was struck by flak at a point in the fuselage about where the Navigator sits. Part of the fuselage was blown away, and the plane was thrown up into ship 42-3316. These two planes locked together for probably 30 seconds and fell into ship 42-30285. All went down together and blew up.

The plane was split into two just behind the pilot's and co-pilot’s seats. The co-pilot (2nd Lt Henry A. Wilczyk) and the pilot (1st Lt John H. Noel) went out an opening, after the collision. They fell in the North Sea about 50 miles northwest of the Frisian Island Chain. Both were picked up 6 hours later by a German patrol plane. The other eight crew members were killed.