graduate of the University of South Carolina. The airframe was one of the test P-80s shipped to Foggia, Italy in December 1944 for tests by Wright Field personnel under combat conditions. 3 August Four USAAF crewmen were killed as two Douglas A-26 Invaders collided and crashed in a field three miles northeast of Bennettsville, South Carolina. "The planes were flying formation with 10 others en route to the Florence army air base when the accident occurred, Police Chief John L. Watson reported." A-26B-10-DL (41-39130, piloted by 2d Lt. William D. Napier of Sultana, California) and A-26B-20-DT (43-22432, flown by 1st Lt. Julian A. Benson of 728 Wynewood Road, Philadelphia), both of the 127th Base Unit, Florence Army Airfield, were described as coming down five miles northeast of Bennettsville. Also killed were Sgt. James Collins Jr., son of James J. Collins Sr., of 827 6th Avenue, N., Fort Dodge, Iowa and Sgt. Robert L. MacNeil, son of Mrs. Margaret MacNeil, 111 Smith Street, Roxbury, Massachusetts. Lt. Benson was survived by his widow, Mrs. Hope L. Benson. Lt. Napier was survived by his widow, Vera E. Napier. It was unclear from news accounts which enlisted man was in which plane. "The accident was the second mid-air collision in South Carolina within a month. An Eastern Airlines Transport and an army plane crashed 80 miles from Columbia on July 12, killing three persons." 5 August The first production Martin JRM-1 Mars flying boat (BuNo 76819, "Hawaii Mars") crashed on a test flight in the Chesapeake Bay near Rock Hall, Maryland, after porpoising during landing; it was never delivered to the United States Navy. "Launched only two weeks ago, the Hawaii Mars was on a routine test flight over the bay when, a crewman said, the upper section of the plane's vertical fin broke away at an altitude of 6,000 feet. 'The ship began to flutter immediately and went out of control,' the crew member added, asking that his name not be used. 'The pilot cried out 'prepare to abandon ship.' But pilot William E. Coney, a navy flyer on loan to the Martin firm, regained partial control of the giant craft and some ten minutes later ordered 'stand by for crash.' The plane struck the water about 500 yards offshore. The impact of the 125-mile-an-hour blow ripped open the metal hull, and the plane sank until only part of its tail and left