A dedication ceremony is planned June 13 for a historical marker that commemorates the 11 airmen who died 65 years earlier on that day in a B-17 crash over southeast South Dakota. The Argus Leader of Sioux Falls reported June 3 that the marker will commemorate the crew of B-17 No. 750 of the 393rd Bomb Group—the “Flying Sioux”—that went down near Fedora, S.D. after a midair collision with another B-17 during a three-ship training mission that left from Sioux City, Ia. The entire aircrew of aircraft 750 perished in the crash; all were age 23 or younger. B-17 No. 790, the second aircraft in the mishap, was severely damaged and made a belly landing, but all of its crew survived. An Army National Guard representative will be the main speaker at the ceremony.
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.