Wilbur Mansfield served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a Lieutenant and Pilot with the 457th Fighter Squadron, 506th Fighter Group, 20th Air Force during World War II. He died on April 27, 1945 when his P-51 Mustang crashed near Tinian Island in the Pacific during a routine training flight. He was training to fly long range fighter escort missions as protection for B-29s over Japan.
