Gordon Wilbur Kinney was born on May 13, 1918, in Blair, Jackson County, Oklahoma. He was the son of Isaac Williel "Tom" Kinney Jr. and Maude Adeline Hibdon Kinney. He enlisted in the service on November 12, 1941. He served at the Base Air Depot 2 as a Sergeant and Crew Chief/ Aerial Engineer of B-24J #42-50291, nicknamed "Classy Chassis II," during World War II.

On August 23, 1944, Classy Chassis II departed RAF Warton in Lancashire, England, on a routine test flight following maintenance and inspection. Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft encountered a sudden and violent thunderstorm marked by torrential rain, strong winds, and extremely poor visibility. As conditions rapidly worsened, the crew attempted to return to the airfield. During the landing approach, visibility was nearly zero, and the aircraft lost control at low altitude. It crashed into the village of Freckleton, with the right wing striking a building and the fuselage tearing through the infants’ wing of Holy Trinity School before destroying three houses and the Sad Sack Snack Bar. Fuel-fed fires and secondary explosions intensified the devastation. All three crew members aboard were killed in the crash. On the ground, 58 civilians, many of them schoolchildren, also lost their lives. The tragedy, which claimed a total of 61 victims, became known as the Freckleton Air Disaster, one of the deadliest aviation accidents in the United Kingdom during World War II.

Sgt Kinney is now buried in the Tipton Cemetery, Tipton, Tillman County, Oklahoma, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, https://aviation-safety.net, en.wikipedia.org