Lieutenant Ellis James Ackerman

Ellis James Ackerman was born in 1920 and graduated from Deming HS in 1938. He enrolled at NMAMC the following fall and completed two years prior to departing to enlist in the Army Air Corps in November 1941. He was sent to pilot school and, upon graduation was assigned to the 50th Fighter Group, AAFSAT, then flying out of Cross City AAF Base in Florida as a test pilot. On November 5, 1942 at 0840, Bell P-39D 41-38318 crashed three miles northwest of the Army Air Base at Cross City, Florida, killing 2Lt. Ellis J. Ackerman, who was unable to recover the aircraft after entering a deliberate spin. The airplane was in a flat spin and struck the ground in a vertical attitude, exploding violently into flames upon impact. The pilot was assigned to conduct center of gravity and spin test flight in response to a series of unusual spin accidents involving P-39 type aircraft. He was 21 years of age and had been married to Martha Hood Ackerman for four months at the time of his death. He is buried in Deming NM.