Distinctly Montana Magazine

94 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • FA L L 2 0 2 5 The Miles City mission was, perhaps even from his perspective, the pinnacle of Ezzard's distinguished 27-year (1939-1966) career in the Air Force. However, for readers who prefer, on occasion, to interpret the course of history through a philosophical or prov- idential lens, two preceding events are particularly noteworthy. At 10:10 p.m. (Pacific Time), on December 6, 1941, then-1st Lt. Ez- zard embarked on what was scheduled to be a 14-hour, 2,400-mile flight from Hamilton Field, near San Francisco Bay, to Hickam Field in Hawaii. Approximately two hours later, Ezzard reported engine trouble and returned to California. If he had not experi- enced mechanical problems, his crew would have flown into the same firestorm that met 12 B-17s en route to Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. Hopelessly outnumbered, virtually out of fuel, and unarmed, they flew straight into the teeth of a Japanese strike force, which, in its two waves, contained 353 aircraft, including 79 fighters. Mi- raculously, all 12 B-17s successfully landed, although one (Num- ber 40-2074) became, in the words of co-pilot Ernest Reid, "the first US airplane crew shot down in World War II." Its fuselage, engulfed in flames after a hail of bullets hit a locker full of mag- nesium flares, broke in half moments after touching down on the runway at Hickam Field. For reasons that remain inexplicable, then-Captain Ezzard also es- caped death on March 12, 1943. Orders were dispatched for the delivery of a B-17F (Number 42-29532) from Smoky Hill Air Field (Salina, Kansas) to Morrison Field in West Palm Beach, Florida. Service records for this aircraft clearly indicate that it was a struc- tural "lemon," virtually from the time it rolled off Boeing's assem- bly line in Seattle. Indeed, it was formally condemned, i.e., classi- fied as unserviceable and not reparable, the day before its fateful flight. Two hours and 35 minutes after departure, this flying coffin crashed nine miles north of Sheridan, Arkansas, with no survivors. Chillingly, Ezzard was ordered to accompany the crew on this flight as a passenger, perhaps to monitor the plane's in-flight per- formance. In an incident report (2012) on this fatal crash, Nelson Mears concluded that "It is a 'mystery' why these four officers were ordered and another 'mystery' as to why they were not on board the plane when it crashed." Had either of these scenarios unfolded differently or a pilot and crew as competent as the one led by Ezzard was not available, we might recall this ice jam as a far more catastrophic chapter in Montana history. Fortunately, residents of Miles City were spared from that fate. 105 S. Main St. • Livingston, MT • 406.222.4838 @TheKitchenShopOnMain Le Creuset • emiLe Henry nordiCware • swiss diamond Heritage steeL • Cudaway • breviLLe kikuiCHi • wustHof • usa pan montana bLoCk • Lodge HistoriC downtown Livingston, mt B-17 formation bomb drop during World War 2

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