Searchlight, NV Navy Turbojet Crash, Aug 1970

NAVY TURBOJET CRASH KILLS 10.

Searchlight, Nev. (UPI) -- Ten persons were killed Monday when a Navy antisubmarine warfare plane exploded in flight during a lightning storm 10 miles northwest of this small desert community.
The charred wreckage of the P3B Orion, a four-engine turboprop was scattered over a quarter mile area around a remote ridge. "There were no survivors," a sheriff's department spokesman said.
Jim Hale, a foreman at the El Dorado power plant, said "the plane just exploded in midair and came down in a fiery crash."
The Orion, a military configuration of the Lockheed Electra, took off from the Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, Nev., at 3:30 p.m. and faded from radar screens at 4 p.m.
The crew of 10 was bound for their home field at Barber's Point, Hawaii, by way of North Island Naval Air Station, San Diego, Calif.
Searchlight is a one-street town in the high desert 55 miles southeast of Las Vegas.

Nevada State Journal Reno 1970-08-04

Listing of the Casualties.
Lt. TIMOTHY D. BAILING, Pilot, New Kensington, Pa.
Lt. jg. HENRY J. McGREEVEY, Co-pilot, Newark, Ohio.
Lt. NORMAN L. JOHNSON, Navigator, Quipnesec, Mich.
I. G. AMBROSE ORDONIA, Aviation Mechanic, San Francisco, Calif.
I. C. JOHNNY D. SHELTON, Aviation Mechanic, Shugualak, Miss.
BRUCE E. WEAVER, Coral Gables, Fla.
CLETUS L. MORRISON, Union City, Okla.
JOHN W. SCHMITZ IV, Madera, Calif.
JOHN D. MAAS, Minneapolis, Minn.
MICHAEL A. SILVERA, Weaverville, Calif.

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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!