Free Republic

A military investigation has concluded that a "friendly fire" incident in which a Navy pilot was shot down and killed by U.S. forces during the spring 2003 invasion of Iraq occurred because operators at two Patriot missile batteries and a command center all mistakenly took his F/A-18 Hornet for an incoming Iraqi missile, the U.S. Central Command said last night. The April 2003 incident was one of two during the campaign in which Patriot anti-missile batteries mistakenly hit allied aircraft. In the other, in late March 2003, a Patriot destroyed a British Tornado GR4 fighter-bomber near the border of Iraq...

<p>WASHINGTON, April 24 (UPI) -- In his last e-mail message home before he died, 30-year-old Navy pilot Lt. Nathan White described the challenges his F/A-18C would face over Iraq. One of his top concerns was avoiding American Patriot air defense missiles.</p>

ABOARD THE USS KITTY HAWK — The Navy has identified the remains of an F/A-18 Hornet pilot assigned to the USS Kitty Hawk and missing since his plane was shot down April 2, according to the aircraft carrier’s commanding officer. Capt. Thomas Parker said the body of Lt. Nathan D. White, 30, of Abilene, Texas, was found Saturday. He was a pilot with Strike Fighter Squadron 195, the Dambusters. He is survived by his wife and three children. “Nathan White was a fine officer and a great pilot,” Parker said. “We send our best to his family and his shipmates.”...

Names of the four US Marines who died in yesterday's helicopter crash: Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, 36, of Waterville, Maine Capt. Ryan Anthony Beaupre, 30, of Bloomington, Ill. Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, 25, of Houston, Texas Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Watersbey, 29, of Baltimore, Md. The Pentagon has just released the names of two more US Marines who were killed in Iraq. I'll post as soon as I find that.