Fade
09-30-2009, 02:02 PM
Fighter jet missing 5 decades found
Report of 1955 jet wreckage stirs memories
By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A historian’s reported discovery of the wreckage of an Air Force jet lost at sea 54 years ago off the Southern California coast brought an unexpected surge of emotions for the pilot’s brother, who found himself grieving all over again.
Aviation archaeologist G. Pat Macha said Tuesday that he and a group of volunteers found Richard Martin Theiler’s plane underneath 100 feet of water earlier this month.
Theiler was in the front seat of the Lockheed-Martin T-33A that went missing just after takeoff from the Los Angeles International Airport on Oct. 15, 1955.
“He was five years older than me, a good athlete and everyone loved him, so there was a lot of hero worship involved,” said Thomas Theiler, 77, who followed his older brother into the Air Force. He now lives in Savannah, Ga. “He probably got his wings two years before I did. We were buddies.”
Article continued at http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2009/09/30/11209481-ap.html
Title altered to reflect aircraft nationality.
Report of 1955 jet wreckage stirs memories
By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A historian’s reported discovery of the wreckage of an Air Force jet lost at sea 54 years ago off the Southern California coast brought an unexpected surge of emotions for the pilot’s brother, who found himself grieving all over again.
Aviation archaeologist G. Pat Macha said Tuesday that he and a group of volunteers found Richard Martin Theiler’s plane underneath 100 feet of water earlier this month.
Theiler was in the front seat of the Lockheed-Martin T-33A that went missing just after takeoff from the Los Angeles International Airport on Oct. 15, 1955.
“He was five years older than me, a good athlete and everyone loved him, so there was a lot of hero worship involved,” said Thomas Theiler, 77, who followed his older brother into the Air Force. He now lives in Savannah, Ga. “He probably got his wings two years before I did. We were buddies.”
Article continued at http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2009/09/30/11209481-ap.html
Title altered to reflect aircraft nationality.