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Re: "Vintage Navy Plane" down near Oregon/California border

Posted by Michael on Wed Oct 29, 2003 04:40:17 PM

In reply top Re: "Vintage Navy Plane" down near Oregon/California border posted by JACK COOK on Wed Oct 29, 2003 10:28:32 AM

They have released the name of the pilot:

YREKA, California -- A vintage Navy plane went down Tuesday afternoon in northern California near the Oregon border, killing the pilot and wounding the sole passenger.

The Siskiyou County, Calif. Sheriff's Department responded about 3 p.m. to reports of an aircraft in trouble northeast of Yreka and south of Medord, Ore. Witnesses said, the plane went down near Irongate Dam; some reported hearing aircraft engine trouble.

Instructor pilot John Herlihy of Mount Shasta died in the crash. Officials say the sole passenger, Ronnie Coffman of Central Point, was the owner of the aircraft.

Coffman was transported to Providence Medford Medical Center in Medford with serious injuries.

People calling 911 reported a plane having mechanical problems, Gravenkamp said. Then callers said the plane had crashed near Black Mountain Road south of Hornbrook.

Emergency crews found an old T-28B, single-engine, propeller-driven Navy trainer with two people aboard. The plane's pilot was dead when crews arrived, Gravenkamp said.

The Navy and Air Force both used planes from the T-28 series for training in the 1950s, and the planes are now popular with collectors of military aircraft, aviation history Web sites said.

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