Edwin Cary Diltz was born on October 14, 1916. He was the son of Charles Benjamin Diltz and Buna Elizabeth Waggoner Diltz. He entered the Air Corps on 30 December 1940 at Houston, Texas as an Aviation Cadet. Prior to his service, he had been a telegrapher with the railroad company in Harris County, Texas.
He was trained as a B-17 pilot and flew in various operations including missions over Regensburg, Schweinfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, missions over France, He was the squadron operations officer and deputy group leader in 1943.
At the time of the Berlin Airlift, he was based out of Oberpfaffenhofen along with Captain William Howard. Both men went down in bad weather while coming back from a delivery to West Berlin on 24 August 1948 in a C-47 when "two C-47 Skytrains engaged in the Berlin Airlift collided in mid-air near Ravoltzhausen, killing two crew on each airlifter."
Killed in the C-47s were:
Crew of #43-15116 (from 14th Troop Carrier Squadron)
Major Edwin C. Diltz
Captain William R. Howard
Crew of #43-16036
Captain Joel M. DeVolentine
1st Lt. William T. Lucas, Jr.
Major Diltz died on August 24, 1948, at the age of 31, and is now buried in the Fayetteville City Cemetery, Fayetteville, Fayette County, Texas, USA.
Source of information: www.findagrave.com, https://airforce.togetherweserved.com