Harlem, MT Military Tankers Collide, Nov 1992

RESCUERS LOOK FOR SURVIVORS OF AIR COLLISION.

MILITARY PLANES INVOLVED.

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 apparently were 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-141-Bs 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, about 30 miles south of the Canadian border, authorities said. The cause of the collision wasn't immediately known.
There were six people on one of the planes and seven on the other, said Gloria Rayford, spokeswoman for the 52nd 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.
The crew of one of the C-141B planes:
Capt. EDWARD D. PARENT, JR.
Capt. BANKS F. WILKINSON.
Capt. KEVIN M. McGUIRE -- 8 ALS
1st Lt. EDWARD H. HOYLE, III.
TSgt. PETER L. OSTERFELD.
SSgt. MONTE L. BISSETT.
Airman 1st Class GEORGE A. MORELAND.
The crew of the other C-141B plane:
Capt. DAVID J. SIELEWICZ.
Capt. JIMMY LEE JENKINS.
Capt. MARK A. ELSTER -- 4ALS.
TSgt. DAVID R. YOUNG.
SSgt. TERRENCE J. MIROSHI.
SRA WILBERT T. BROWN, III.
The planes were flying between 24,000 and 27,000 feet and the weather at that level was clear, said FAA spokesman Lee Fryer in Seattle.
The Washington Air National Guard tanker was from Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, Wash. A base spokesman, Lt. Col. Joe Jimenez, said it had finished refueling the cargo planes before the collision.
Harlem Mayor Victor Miller, who also is a member of the town's fire department, said early today that firefighters and ambulances were at the crash site, and that all fires had been put out. There were no reports of any buildings being hit or people injured on the ground.
The C-141 Starlifter is a workhorse for the Military Airlift Command. The four-engined jet is used to ferry large loads of equipment and troops.

Aiken Standard South Carolina 1992-12-01
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!