The B-17 was often used in 1943 for raids throughout Europe, but only during the daytime. The U.S. Army Air Corps did not do nighttime raids, but that did not mean that the U.S. was not interested.

In fact, they were moving as fast as they could to successfully run night raids, including developing new tactics and training pilots. The B-17s were training at the Dalhart Army Airfield in Texas.

Training Run Gone Wrong

On one night run, four B-17s were headed toward their target 20 miles away in Conlen, Texas. The target was highlighted by four lights with an "x-marks-the-spot" shape to minimize any errors.

However, one young navigator got turned around and led the crew 40 miles in the opposite direction toward Boise City, Oklahoma. Since it was the evening, none of them realized they had flown for longer than they should have.

All the lights were out in the town since everyone was asleep. The only lights that were on were the four that lit up the corners around the Cimmaron County Courthouse.

The formation thought they had reached their target, so the lead bomber dropped sand-filled training bombs on the sleepy town of 1,200 occupants. The first building they hit was the butcher's garage, demolishing its roof.

Another training bomb just missed the Baptist Church, and the third and fourth bomber's training bombs almost hit the fuel stores. The Boise City sheriff called Dalhart.

Planes Recalled To The Airbase

Dalhart immediately radioed the pilots to verify that they were on target. The pilots were confident that they were in the right spot and nowhere near civilians.

However, when Dalhart's tower questioned them, the pilots were adamant that they were in the correct spot. The electric company engineer then turned off the electricity so that the whole town would go dark.

Six training bombs were dropped on the town in total. The crews were immediately recalled to Dalhart, and the navigator was terminated.

The rest were given a choice to go directly into combat in Europe, where the casualty rate was 41 percent, or be court-martialed. Boise City has a memorial of the bombing with a concrete crater with a WWII training bomb sticking out to memorialize the event.