# B-17 crash (1944)

- URL: https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/b-17-crash-1944/
- Also known as: bomber 'AF3155'
- Kind: Wrecks and other events
- Status: Historic or vanished
- County: Douglas County, Colorado
- Point: 39.25, -104.975 (from a cited description (about half a mile))

- Updated: 2026-10-17

## What we know

On Saturday, Feb. 26, 1944, in snow and overcast, a B-17 Flying Fortress from Clovis Army Air Base, New Mexico, on a training flight from Clovis to Denver and back, lost radio contact about 15 minutes into the return leg and crashed on the Rampart Range's east face in the Pike National Forest. All ten men aboard died: 2nd Lts. Joseph J. Beeson Jr. (pilot), Harry B. Davis, Harry L. Barry and Jack T. Laird; Capt. Fred Gentry; and Cpls. Ralph C. Judah, Glenn L. Stutsman, James F. Perry, James R. Young and Joseph J. Fendrick. The wreck was not found until May 22, 1945 (Larry Schlupp, Larkspur Historical Society, 2008, S-0045).

## Where it was

Generalized. Estimated from the Larkspur society's schematic locator map ('Larkspur B17' pin, west-northwest of Larkspur) and its text ('east of Rampart Range Road and Forest Road 327,' about 800 feet below a ridge of house-sized boulders) (S-0045). The true site may be a mile or two from this point; no section or road distance is given.

Placed from a written description, such as a land section, a distance from a landmark or an old survey note.

## Sources

- S-0045: https://palmerdivideresearch.com/sources/#s-0045

## Nearby

- [Perry Park post office (1892)](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/perry-park-post-office-1892/): 0.8 mi northwest
- [Nanichant Inn (Nanichant House)](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/nanichant-inn-nanichant-house/): 0.8 mi northwest
- [Perry Park Manor House (1891)](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/perry-park-manor-house-1891/): 0.8 mi northwest
- [Perry Park](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/perry-park/): 1.0 mi northwest
- [Sentinel Rock inscription cave (stage waiting place, 1870s-1890s)](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/sentinel-rock-inscription-cave-stage-waiting-place-1870s-1890s/): 1.1 mi northwest
- [Glen Grove](https://palmerdivideresearch.com/places/glen-grove/): 1.3 mi southeast

Source numbers (S-0000) refer to https://palmerdivideresearch.com/sources/. Compiled by Michael Christensen for Palmer Divide Research; CC BY 4.0.