APC Pilot: O-661171Everett Peter Abar Capt VT 14-4-1945 B-29 #42-24604 A-SQ-24

Capt Everett Peter Abar (1916-1945) - Find A Grave Memorial

Everett Peter Abar born in 1916 at West Burke; and graduated with the Class of 1934 from nearby Lyndon Institute High School, Vermont.

Selected for the Aviation Cadet Flying Training Program, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps on 7 November 1941 at San Francisco, California. Trained at Randolph and Kelly Fields; graduated from Advanced Flying School on 3 July 1942 ('wings') and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the USAAF. Assigned to the European Theatre of Operations, 8th Air Force, VIII Fighter Command, 56th Fighter Group, 61st Fighter Squadron. Flew the P-47 Thunderbolt, and then the Lockheed P-38 Lightning twin-engine fighter while stationed in North Africa.

Underwent B-29 aircraft transition and combat crew training at Clovis, New Mexico and Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas. On 21 Oct 1944, he deployed to the Central Pacific Theatre of Operations and was assigned to 20th Air Force, XXI Bomber Command, 73rd Bomb Wing, 497th Bombardment Group, 870th Bomber Squadron stationed at Isely Field on Saipan in the Mariana Islands.

During the night and early morning hours of 13-14 April 1945, he flew in the left seat as the Airplane Command Pilot aboard a Boeing B-29 Superfortress, nicknamed "Wheel N' Deal" (Serial #42-24604) Tail Code: A-Square-24.

A-SQ-24 was one of 348 aircraft launched in a multi-wing operation to bombard the Japanese Army Ordnance Depot at Tokyo, Japan. Flak from anti-aircraft artillery was meager and Japanese fighter aircraft attacks were described as moderate.

He was killed when his aircraft crashed and burned within the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo. "Wheel n' Deal" came down behind Jurinji Temple, where the charred remains of the crew were temporarily buried. After the war, they were disinterred and returned to the United States.

MACR 13833

World War II Honoree (wwiimemorial.com)

Everett P Abar