Alfred Thomas Estright was born in Altoona, Blair County, Pennsylvania on February 25, 1922. He was the youngest of three children of John Calvin Estright (15 Jan 1888 – 2 May 1939) and Gertrude W. (McIntyre) Estright (12 Feb 1886 – 1 Dec 1986). The family lived on 24th Street in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and his father worked as a painter for the Pennsylvania Railroad. He completed two years of high school and worked in a semiskilled occupation in painting, construction, and maintenance. He was single, without dependents, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Altoona, Pennsylvania, on October 26, 1942.

He completed Army Air Forces flight engineer and aerial gunnery training, and was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Joseph P. Willis in the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group (Heavy). The Willis crew completed B-24 crew training with the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico, and deployed with the Group to England in March 1944. They flew B-24H 42-52577 overseas via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived in England by mid-April 1944. The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near the village of Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.

On May 29, 1944, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched two Squadrons to bomb the oil refinery at Politz, Germany. The formation was attacked by German Me 410 fighters after leaving the target. Sgt Estright and eight of his crew mates went missing in action when their aircraft, B-24H 42-52577, was shot down by German Me 410 fighters and exploded over the Baltic Sea near Bornholm Island. Their bodies were never found. The navigator, Lt Edgar Allan Grabhorn, was blown clear and survived.

Sgt Estright is memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery.

B-24H 42-52577 crew:
• Willis, Joseph P – 2/Lt – Pilot – MIA
• Wasson, Robert L – 2/Lt – Copilot – MIA
• Grabhorn, Edgar A – 2/Lt – Navigator – POW
• Slusarczyk, Stanley A – 2/Lt – Bombardier – MIA
• Estright, Alfred T – Sgt – Engineer – MIA
• Robinson Jr, Richard S – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – MIA
• Rodgers, Gilbert E – Sgt – Ball Turret – MIA
• Pierson, Robert E – Sgt – Nose Turret – MIA
• Jones, William E – Sgt – Top Turret – MIA
• Donnelly, Robert J – Sgt – Tail Turret – MIA

Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com