Edwin R. Glass served in the 40th Bombardment Group as a Major and Pilot of an aircraft during World War II. He was killed when the U.S. Army Air Forces B-29-1-BW Superfortress #42-6240 crashed from unknown causes, 25 miles southeast of Likiang, China. Seven other airmen also perished.

On the morning of July 30, 1944, Captain Edwin Glass and his veteran flight crew departed the 40th Bomb Group's home base at Chakulia Airfield, India, on a mission over the Hump to their forward base at Hsinching, China. Eddie Glass was considered to be the best Pilot in the Group, and he had flown with his crew for several years. They were flying a B-29 stripped of its combat equipment, then modified to carry fuel and cargo. On this mission, the plane was loaded with gasoline and bombs.

The Hump route for this flight was Chakulia, India; Imphal, India; Myitkyina, Burma; Lake Tali, China; Ipin, China; then to the destination at Hsinching, China. From Imphal to Ipin, the rugged Himalaya Mountains ranged from 12,000 feet to more than 19,000 feet high near Lake Tali. Flying weather over the Hump was uniformly bad that time of the year.

When the crew filed its flight plan, the forecast weather for the Hump route was not especially alarming. Near takeoff time, an unexpected, huge cold front surged out of southern Tibet and enveloped the Hump route near the China-Burma border. Capt. Glass was not made aware that he would be flying into towering thunderstorms, hail, clear ice, and severe turbulence.

The crew of the heavily-laden B-29 reported over Myitkyina, Burma, at 15,000 feet climbing to the minimum en route altitude of 21,000 feet. They gave an ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) for Lake Tali. Shortly afterwards, the B-29 entered the backside of the severe front -- the ill-fated plane was never heard from again. Subsequent search efforts failed to find the missing plane and its crew that time.

Maj. Glass and his crew is now buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Lemay, St. Louis County, Missouri, USA in a common grave. He was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com