Two Flying Cadets Killed Near Altus Army Airfield

Altus, Oklahoma, May 22 – (UP) --Two aviation cadets from the Altus Army Airfield were killed yesterday when their twin-engine army plane crashed 11 miles northeast of here during a routine training flight, the field’s commanding officer announced today.

The cadets were John R. Hicks, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. Verner Hicks of Olney, Illinois and Ralph E. Hubach, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gustave Hubach of Springfield, Mass.

Both men were members of cadet class 44-E.

Miami Daily News-Record (Miami, Okla) – Monday, May 22, 1944

Aviation Cadet John Robert Hicks, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Verner Hicks of Olney, was killed last Sunday, May 21, 1944, in a crash near his base field, Altus Army Air Field, Altus, Oklahoma. The accident occurred on the day before Cadet Hicks was to receive his commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Forces.

He was on his last training trip when the accident occurred and had made plans to spend his graduation furlough with his parents in Olney.

Two brothers, one of whom was enroute to Altus at the time of the crash, are in the service. Technical Sergeant Frederick Hicks is an instructor at March Field, Calif. and had planned to attend his brother's graduation.  Another brother, Lieutenant Charles V. Hicks, is a pilot in the Air Forces and was on a flying trip at the time of the accident.

The body was buried in Marion, Illinois.

Surviving are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Verner Hicks, one sister, Miss Margaret Hicks of Los Angeles, California, two brothers, Tech. Sgt. Frederick Hicks and Second Lieutenant Charles Hicks both of the U.S. Army Air force, and his grandmother, Mrs. Mary Parks of Los Angeles, Cal.

Published in Olney Advocate, May 25, 1944