(coded KO-H) of the same squadron and PB754 (coded TL-A) of Graveley-based 35 Squadron when it swerved off runway while taking off from Bari. Two Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers collided over Weatherford, Texas during a night bomber training exercise. Eighteen crew members were killed, and two parachuted to safety. An Associated Press account said that some crew who bailed out had their chutes set alight by fiery wreckage, and fell to their deaths. Residents of the town were panicked by the collision overhead. "The explosion shook Weatherford. The skies were full of pieces of burning planes. The glare was seen 20 miles away. Some had a first impression that the town had been hit by a Jap balloon bomb." Boeing B-29A-10-BN Superfortress 42-93895 of the 234th Combat Crew Training Squadron, Clovis Army Air Field, New Mexico, and Boeing B-29B-40-MO Superfortress 44-86276 (the last Block 40-MO airframe) of the 231st Combat Crew Training Squadron, Alamogordo Army Air Field in New Mexico were involved. 18 August The last U.S. air-combat casualty of World War II occurred during mission 230 A-8, when two Consolidated B-32 Dominators of the 386th Bomb Squadron 312th Bomb Group launched from Yontan Airfield on Okinawa for a photo-reconnaissance run over Tokyo. Both bombers were attacked by Japanese fighters from the 302nd Air Group at Atsugi and the Yokosuka Air Group, which made 10 gunnery passes. Japanese aces Sadamu Komachi and Saburō Sakai were part of this attack. A B-32 piloted by 1st Lt. John R. Anderson was hit at 20,000 feet; cannon fire knocked out the number-two (port inner) engine. Three crew members were injured, including Sgt. Anthony J. Marchione, 19, of the 20th Reconnaissance Squadron, who took a 20 mm hit to the chest and died 30 minutes later. Tail gunner Sgt. John Houston destroyed one attacker. Lead bomber Consolidated B-32-20-CF Dominator 42-108532 ("Hobo Queen II"), piloted by 1st Lt. James Klein, was not seriously damaged. The second Consolidated B-32-35-CF Dominator (42-108578) lost an engine, had its upper turret knocked out of action, and lost partial-rudder control. Both bombers landed at Yontan Airfield a little after 6 pm, surviving the last air combat of the Pacific War. The following day, propellers were removed from the Japanese aircraft as part of the surrender agreement. Marchione was buried on Okinawa on 19 August; his body was returned to his Pottstown, Pennsylvania home on 18 March 1949, and he was