Harlem, MT (near) Military Cargo Jets Collide, Nov 1992

TWO MILITARY PLANES CRASH IN MONTANA EXERCISE.

Harlem, Mont. (AP) -- Two military cargo jets on a night-time refueling training mission collided and crashed near the Canadian border. All 13 people aboard were apparently killed, the Air Force said today.
In Montana, witnesses said Monday night's collision of the C-141B cargo planes lit up the sky.
"There was a big fireball in the sky and then it fell to the earth," said Angie Fischer, who was at her mother's house on a hilltop west of the crash site. "Then there was another fireball when it hit the ground."
The training mission involved four Air Force C-141Bs and a KC-135 tanker, said Ray Martell, a spokesman for McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma, Wash., where the transports were based.
Two of the C-141Bs collided after refueling and crashed nine miles north of Harlem, in flat to rolling grasslands about 30 miles south of the Canadian border, authorities said. The cause of the collision wasn't known.
There were six people on one of the planes and seven on the other, said Gloria Rayford, spokeswoman for the 62nd Airlift Wing at McChord.
Initial indications were that all of them were killed, said Sgt. Brian Orban, a spokesman at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls. Their names were being withheld early today.
Col. Dick Fanjoy, vice commander of the 43rd Air Refueling Wing at Malmstrom, said he had been told debris was scattered over eight miles. Local authorities have reported finding major sections of the aircraft, possibly including both nose sections and a tail section, he said.
However, he added, "it's very difficult to tell" much about the wreckage. "It's dark out there, and there's lots of twisted metal. We're not going to get much done until the sun comes up."
He said no one on the ground was injured. Human remains have been found, he said, but he could not confirm that all 13 people aboard the planes had been killed.
The C-141 Starlifter is a workhorse for the Military Airlift Command. The four-engine jet is used to ferry large loads of equipment and troops.

Syracuse Herald-Journal New York 1992-12-01

List of Casualties:
Aboard 65-0255:
Capt. EDWARD D. PARENT, JR.
Capt. BANKS E. WILKINSON.
Capt. KEVIN M. MAGUIRE, 8ALS.
1st Lt. EDWARD H. HOYLE, III.
TSgt. PETER L. OSTERFELD.
SSgt. MONTE L. BISSETT.
A1C GEORGE A. MORELAND.
Aboard 66-0142:
Capt. DAVID J. SIELEWICZ.
Capt. JIMMY LEE JENKINS.
Capt. MARK A ELSTER, 4ALS.
TSgt. DAVID R. YOUNG.
SSgt. TERRENCE J. MIROSKI.
Sgt. WILBERT T. BROWN III.
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!