On July 21, 1944, a tragic accident occurred near Brooksville, Florida when two B-17 Flying Fortress planes collided during a training flight. The collision resulted in the death of eight fliers, with ten injured and two still missing. Among the deceased was Corporal Leon Breslaw from Brooklyn, New York.

The incident was reported on page 9 of the New York Times on July 22, 1944, in a small article below the fold. The article mentioned that the accident occurred at 10,000 feet and that the planes were on a training flight. It also stated that Breslaw was among the deceased and that he was from Brooklyn, New York.

In 1944, Bob Elisha, the son of Breslaw’s brother, received a call from Don Etchison, a local pilot and World War II aviation history enthusiast. Etchison informed Elisha about a war memorial dedication ceremony that was to be held in Brooksville, and that the community would be honored to have a family member of one of the fallen fliers in attendance.

Elisha’s father had always shared the story of what happened in Brooksville, so he was familiar with the area and the incident. Etchison also explained about the bunker and the training that took place there. On November 15, 1944, a war memorial was dedicated in honor of the men who trained at Brooksville and served in the Army Air Forces.

During the war, newspapers would often report small articles, just a few paragraphs long, about training accidents and the names of local youths involved. Etchison shared that the crews arriving at Brooksville only had 30 hours of flight time and would receive an additional 100 hours before being deployed.

Etchison also mentioned that flying a B-17 in formation with other aircraft was extremely difficult, and mid-air collisions were not uncommon. According to RealClearHistory, the U. S. suffered 52,173 aircrew combat losses during the war, with an additional 25,844 deaths from accidents. Around 15,000 deaths occurred before the soldiers even left the States.

The Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport was one of 44 airfields in Florida that served as a final training ground for World War II flight crews before being deployed to Europe. Today, a remnant of that time can be seen at the airport in the form of a “berm,” used to align the defensive machine guns of B-17 and B-24 bombers.

Etchison, along with project architect Ed Hoffman, worked tirelessly to turn the “gunnery backstop” into a war memorial. With the help of private donations, a propeller from a B-17, a two-sided dedication plaque, and other artifacts, the memorial was completed and dedicated in April 2022.

Bob Elisha, now 66 years old and a retired commercial airline pilot, attended the ceremony with