A celebration in the sky turned into tragedy on this day in 1945. Navy Day drew more than 12,000 people to Burlington International Airport as the Hell Razors took to the sky to perform stunts.

Lieutenant Smith, a member of the Squadron, was suffering from blood poisoning, but refused to go to Mary Fletcher, asking instead, to go to the infirmary at Quonset Point.

Smith and Lt. Commander Maurice Stone headed south into abnormally low cloud cover. They shouldn’t have been flying.

Their craft nicked tree tops near the summit of South Mountain near Bristol, and they crashed. Both men were killed.

Historic image courtesy Brian Lindner, of National Life Group