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Marines Killed in Helicopter Collision The Cobra and Huey helicopters were conducting a training exercise at the time of the crash according to defense officials By R. Stickney | Thursday, Feb 23, 2012 | Updated 6:13 AM PST Seven U.S. Marines died when two helicopters collided last night near Yuma, Arizona. Defense officials said the Marines were from the 3rd Marine Airwing based at MCAS Miramar near San Diego. There were no survivors. The cause of the crash is under investigation. The identities of the seven killed have not been released pending formal notification of next of kin. Check back...

US aircraft history buffs are hopeful that tiny bones along with artefacts from the 1930s found on a remote Pacific island may reveal the fate of pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart. In one of aviation's most enduring mysteries, Earhart took off from Lae, in what is now Papua New Guinea, while attempting to circumnavigate the globe via the equator in 1937 and was never seen again. A massive search at the time failed to find the flyer and her navigator Fred Noonan, who were assumed to have died after ditching their Lockheed Electra aircraft in the ocean, according to the Amelia...

CAMP TAJI, Iraq, Jan. 25, 2010 – U.S. Division Center AH-64 Apache helicopter pilots from the 1st Cavalry Division’s 1st Air Cavalry Brigade flew a second joint mission Jan. 20 with UH-1 Huey helicopter pilots from the Iraqi air force. U.S. Army aviators move an AH-64D Apache attack helicopter behind an Iraqi air force UH-1 Huey helicopter at Camp Taji, Iraq, before taking off for a combined mission in and around Baghdad, Jan. 20, 2010. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Travis Zielinski  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “We have taken the lessons learned from the first flight and used...

5/27/2008 - PARIS (AFPN) -- Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley, along with several hundred American and French citizens, paid homage to a special group of World War I aviators May 24 at the Lafayette Escadrille memorial ceremony that took place outside of Paris. The Airmen of the Lafayette Escadrille were the United States' first combat aviators. It was an American squadron of volunteers who flew under the French flag during World War I. Many of them gave their lives in defense of French democracy. General Moseley said it is important that the aviation heroes be honored...

The Library of Congress is looking for your help adding more information to this and about 40 other photos taken in the early 1940s in Fort Worth. Many are from Meacham Field and Consolidated Aircraft Corp. and feature classic images of student pilots and female factory workers

"The only modern way to describe a World War I dogfight is to imagine a knife fight in a phone booth," says Tony Bill, who directed "Flyboys," which MGM is releasing today. The film tells the tale of the Lafayette Escadrille, a squadron of American pilots who volunteered to fight for France in the early days of World War I.

FORT BLISS, Texas (Army News Service, June 9, 2006) – Sixteen Afghan pilots, crew chiefs and flight engineers graduated the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy today at Fort Bliss, Texas. The first Afghan aviators to graduate the academy, they will use their new knowledge to help combat narcoterrorists in Afghanistan. “This is a great day for the people of Afghanistan and for the people of the United States,” said Richard J. Douglas, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics. “This sets the stage for what you have accomplished here at Fort Bliss …by helping President Hamid Karzi’s efforts to suppress...

WASHINGTON, April 21, 2006 – Afghans reported improvised explosive devices to local officials in two separate incidents today, and Afghan National Army aviators completed their first combat-support mission April 15, military officials in Afghanistan reported today. Afghan National Army Sgt. Abdul Khaliq, of the ANA's Central Movement Agency, hands a box of food to U.S. Army Sgt. Juan Trejos on an Afghan Air Corps Mi-17 Hip helicopter at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, April 12. Soldiers from ANA's Central Movement Agency trained with their coalition counterparts prior to the ANA Air Corps first aerial resupply mission in partnership with the...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, April 17, 2006 – Afghan National Army Air Corps aviators began training with Task Force Falcon aviators and U.S. Army soldiers here April 11. Army Col. Michael Rose welcomes Afghan National Army Air Corps aviators as they arrive at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, April 11. Rose commands the coalition's Task Force Falcon. The Afghan aviators will operate with coalition forces during Operation Mountain Lion and beyond. Photo by Sgt. Stephanie van Geete, USA   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The arrival of the 18-person team marks the first assignment of Afghan aviators here in...

SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany — Lee Archer was once so frustrated with the way the military treated him and other blacks, he considered leaving the service. In the midst of World War II and during his training at the famed Tuskegee Institute, he thought about going to Canada like his father suggested. But what another black aviator told him changed his mind and taught him a lifelong lesson on patriotism. “He said, ‘Wait a minute, Lee. Settle down,’” Archer, a retired Army Air Corps lieutenant colonel, recalled. “Then, he made this great speech. He said, ‘You have a right to...

Seahawks conclude Iraqi tour, make mark in history Submitted by: 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing Story Identification #: 200572224315 Story by Gunnery Sgt. Shannon Arledge AL ASAD, Iraq (July 22, 2005) -- Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 4 started its journey home today. After seven months in a deployed combat environment, the 190 Marines are ending their deployment that began in mid January. “All the Marines were very eager to support [Operation Iraqi Freedom],” said Sgt. Joseph A. Esala, electronics section, a native of Statesboro, Ga. “It is a challenging and worthy effort. I’m honored to have been involved in it.”...

A Woodbury native whose father was killed in the crash of a restored World War II fighter a year ago was one of two Marine Corps fighter pilots who died this week when their planes apparently collided over south-central Iraq. The military notified the family of Kelly Hinz that he was killed in the Monday collision, WCCO-TV reported late Wednesday. The 30-year-old Hinz, a 1993 graduate of St. Thomas Academy, an all-boys Catholic military school in Mendota Heights, is married and has a 7-month-old daughter. He had been stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. Hinz's mother,...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military has found the body of the pilot of one of two Marine Corps jets that crashed in Iraq and believes the warplanes may have collided in mid-air, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. The U.S. military lost contact with the two Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet aircraft in Iraq on Monday night, a military statement said. The planes were flying from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, the military said. In Washington, defense officials said they suspected the two fighters collided in mid-air at 30,000 feet, but no final conclusion had been reached. One official, who...

WASHINGTON -- Military investigators said Wednesday they located the remains of the second of two Marine Corps fighter pilots whose planes crashed in south-central Iraq earlier this week. The remains of the first pilot, Maj. John C. Spahr, 42, of Cherry Hill, N.J., were found on Tuesday. The second pilot's identity was being withheld by the military until his family could be notified, according to a Central Command statement. Both pilots were flying single-seat F/A-18 Hornet fighters about 30,000 feet over south-central Iraq when radio contact was lost on Monday evening. Officials said previously that investigators concluded the two planes...

Two U.S. jets missing on Iraq mission-Centcom 22 minutes ago The U.S. military lost contact Monday night with two Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet aircraft in Iraq, a statement said. The military said the two planes were from the USS Carl Vinson. The status of the crew is unknown and a search effort is under way. The military statement said there was no initial indication of hostile fire in the area at the time contact was lost. The U.S. military could not confirm by telephone any further details about whether the planes were single or two-seaters, could not say which squadron...

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The U.S. military said Tuesday it had lost contact with two jets flying in support of operations in Iraq. The status of the two U.S. Marine F/A-18 Hornet aircraft and their crew was not immediately known, the military said in a statement.

CLASHING MILITARY CULTURES By RALPH PETERS April 13, 2005 -- LAST month, I sat in the of fice of Col. Jon "Dog" Davis, a veteran Marine aviator. While at war, the Corps' pilots had seen a rise in their accident rate. Davis was determined to do something about it. I wanted to be sympathetic, so I said, "Well, you're flying some very old aircraft." Davis, a taut, no-nonsense Marine, looked me in the eye and said, "They may be old, but they're good. That's no excuse." snip Morally bankrupt, the Air Force is willing to turn a blind eye to...

NEW YORK — On a glacier in Greenland , a crew has just recovered the remains of 12 U.S. Naval aviators. They hadn’t died recently. Their plane crashed during the Cold War (search) in 1962, killing all aboard. And now, after 42 years, the men of the LA-9 are finally getting the homecoming they deserve. The Navy is returning the men who died aboard the P-2V Neptune reconnaissance plane to their families, who worked for years to get the remains recovered and sent home. Cmdr. Norbert Kozak was executive officer of the squadron and led his men on the Cold...

Two US pilots in Iraq rescued in after plane crash AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar, April 2 (Reuters) - Two U.S. Navy aviators have been rescued after their F-14A "Tomcat" crashed because of mechanical failure, a statement by U.S. Central Command released late on Tuesday said. A combat search and rescue team successfully recovered the pilot and radar intercept officer on Monday and took them to an allied air base, the statement said. It said initial reports indicated neither crewmember was seriously injured. A combat search and rescue team flew a rescue helicopter to recover the downed crew. Full details of...