James T. Olmstead

World War II
-
Fallen

County:
Grand Forks

Date of Loss:

Branch of Service:
Army

Rank:
1st Lieutenant

Battalion / Task Group / Squadron or equivalent:
329th Fighter Squadron

Regiment / Group / Brigade:
328th Fighter Group

Listed on/in the:
Register of North Dakota Veterans World War II 1941-1945 and Korean Conflict 1950-1953, published 1968

Circumstances:

Lt. Olmstead was leading a group of fighter aircraft during a training flight from Oakland Municipal Airport to Oroville, California, via Sacramento for a fuel stop. After departing Sacramento, he began demonstrating shallow barrel rolls. After completing two, and entered the third attempt. But his Airacobra stalled and went into an unrecoverable dive. He attempted to bail out, but his parachute failed to fully deploy as he was at this point only 100 feet above the terrain and was killed.

Biography:

born Larimore, ND 14 Feb 20; resident Grand Forks County, ND; entered AUS San Francisco, Calif 14 Nov 41; died in service 22 May 43 Oronville, Calif; buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, California.