On May 7, 1944, a United States Army Air Force B-25 bomber crashed and exploded around one mile north of West Chester, Pennsylvania, killing all seven military passengers and crew members on board.

Caught in stormy weather, the plane nose-dived into the woods at Oaklands Cemetery and burst into flames.

[2] Circa 4:40 p.m. local time, the B-25 was overflying West Chester, Pennsylvania, when it encountered a squall, with rain, hail, and heavy cloud cover reported.

[3][4] Residents reported that the plane "seemed to stop in midflight," began spiraling downward, and nose-dived into the ground,[5] where it exploded into flames, producing an impact crater seven to ten feet deep.

[1] Part of the fuselage was found 500 yards from the crash, and numerous small brush fires sprang up because of burning fuel that the impact scattered over a wide area.

The crash occurred circa 4:45 p.m. in the woods at the Oaklands Cemetery, around one and a half miles north of West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Motorists thronging the Pottstown Pike blocked two of four fire companies from West Chester from reaching the scene.

Soldiers from an airbase in New Castle County, Delaware, along with state police, finally cleared the cemetery and herded onlookers down the pike a quarter of a mile from the wreckage.