THE FLAGLER TRIBUNE
Bunnell, Florida
Thursday, April 8, 1954

 

Tech. Sgt. James Cecil Flowers, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Flowers of Flagler Beach, was killed instantly Tuesday afternoon in a crash landing accident at George Air Force Base in Victorville, Calif. Three men were killed and five others were seriously burned in the accident as the result of a jet fighter crash and fire involving another plane and a rescue truck in which Sgt. Flowers was riding.

An Air Force spokesman at George Air Force Base said the F-86 jet had just left the ground when it swerved and crashed into the truck, burst into flames and rammed and destroyed at T-33 trainer, which was parked on the runway.

Sgt. Flowers was 28 years of age and had served in the Air Force since 1945. He and his family visited his parents in Flagler Beach last May after returning from Newfoundland where he was stationed two years. He had been in Victorville, Calif. since then.

He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Ruth Flowers and one daughter, Brenda Gayle, and one son, James Cecil Flowers, Jr., and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Flowers of Flagler Beach; one sister, Mrs. Edsell Skinner of Atlanta, Ga. Also his maternal grandfather, R. W. Nail of Atlanta.

Funeral services are incomplete awaiting the arrival of the body in Atlanta. He will be buried there beside his other brother who was killed while serving in the armed forces overseas during World War II.