Second Bonner County airman lost
|
|
January 8, 2014 |
 |
|
Staff
sergeant Afton Ponce |
| Photo courtesy
KREM |
Article information courtesy KREM and the Air Force Times
The Air Force has identified the four airmen
killed in Tuesday’s Pave Hawk crash near RAF
Lakenheath, England, and one, KREM 2 News,
Spokane, reports, attended high school in Priest
River.
Captain Christopher S. Stover, Captain Sean M.
Ruane, Technical Sergeant Dale E. Mathews and
Staff Sergeant Afton M. Ponce died when their
HH-60G crashed in a wildlife preserve near the
town of Norfolk, on the eastern coast of
England.
Ponce, KREM reported, attended Priest River
Lamanna High School until 2003.
On December 27, Air Force Captain David Lyon,
Sandpoint, was killed while on combat operations
near Kabul, Afghanistan.
The Pave Hawk, assigned to the 56th Rescue
Squadron, was flying a low-level training
mission when it went down at the Norfolk
Wildlife Trust Cley Marshes near the town of
Cley Next The Sea.
The crew consisted of a pilot, co-pilot and two
special mission aviators who are qualified as
both gunners and flight engineers, the 48th
Fighter Wing said in a release Wednesday. Stover
and Ruane were the pilots, and Mathews and Ponce
were the special mission aviators.
“We continue to think of the loved ones who are
experiencing such a tragic, sudden loss,”
Colonel Kyle Robinson, 48th Fighter Wing
commander, said in a statement. “The Liberty
Wing feels as though it has lost members of its
family, and we stand by to support one another
and these airmen’s families during this
difficult time.”
Residents near the crash site said the Pave Hawk
sounded unusual before the crash, according to
the Associated Press. The area was also
experiencing poor weather, with wind gusts of
about 36 mph.
To read the full KREM article,
click here. For the Air Force Times report,
click
here. |
|
Questions or comments about this
article?
Click here to e-mail! |
|
|
|
|
