Mark Sublette stated that "On 20 February 1939, a squadron of twelve U.S. Navy aircraft, described as "fast combat ships", were returning to NAS Pensacola, Florida, from a routine training trip and found the Gulf Coast socked in by a fog described as one of the heaviest ever witnessed in the region. Eight planes were lost with two pilots killed. Three aircraft piloted by instructors, and one other plane, were diverted by radio and outran the fog bank to land safely at Atmore and Greenville, Alabama. Six of the Navy's flying students bailed out in the darkness and reached ground safely in their first parachute jumps. Their planes were wrecked beyond repair. Lt. G. F. Presser, Brazilian Navy flyer, in training at the Naval Air Station, crashed and was killed at Corry Field. His plane burned. The fog was so dense that the intense glow of the burning plane could not be seen by attendants on the field. Lt. N. M. Ostergren, U.S. Navy, was found dead at his crashed plane near McDavid the next morning. Officers said the wreckage of the eight planes – they declined to estimate their worth, but aviation circles here said the fast combat ships would cost from $18,000 to $20,000 each – was the air station's second heaviest loss. In 1926, a hurricane wrecked planes on the ground, hangars and other equipment for a total damage of about $1,000,000." - Crestview, Florida, "8 Planes Wrecked in Fog – Two Lose Lives As Eight Planes Wreck At Air Station", ''Okaloosa News-Journal'', 24 February 1939, Volume 25, Number 8, page 1. The aircraft involved were all Boeing F4B-4 fighters. These included: BuNos. ''A9014'', ''A9040'', ''9242'', ''9243'', ''9258'', and ''9719."
Ensign Norman Millard Ostergren
A Navy carrier based F4B-4 aircraft
The San Bernardino CA Daily Sun
22 February 1939, Volume 45, page 1.
Santa Cruz Sentinel, Santa
Cruz, CA 2-22-1939
Ltjg Norman Millard Ostergren, Arlington Cemetery