Four Airmen Killed In B-52 Fairchild Crash Are Identified
SPOKANE - The four airmen killed Friday in the crash of a B-52 bomber at Fairchild Air Force Base have been identified as Lt. Col. Arthur "Bud" Holland, the pilot, from Suffolk, Mass.; Lt. Co. Kenneth Huston, the navigator, of Avenal, Calif.; and two instructor pilots, Col. Robert Wolff of Chicago and Lt. Col. Mark McGeehan of East Liverpool, Ohio.
Their ages and current hometowns were not immediately available.
The four were killed when their B-52 - the last one left at Fairchild - crashed while practicing landings and takeoffs.
The accident followed the deaths of six and injuries to 23 others Monday when a former airman armed with an assault weapon stormed the base hospital.
The Air Force officers were preparing for an air show that officials hoped would help overcome the trauma of the mass shooting. The air show was canceled.
Today, Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall was to meet with the media at McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma to respond to questions about the two tragedies.
Widnall had been scheduled at McChord as part of the Air Force's annual "rodeo" competition among crews for transport and tanker crews, said base spokeswoman Sgt. Pat Brown.
"It's a tragic loss for us at Fairchild, twice in one week. It's a very sorrowful time for us," said Sgt. Allen Geisler, a base spokesman.
Base counselors who had worked around the clock to comfort families of victims of the shootings reactivated a crisis line
after Friday's crash.
The Air Force's accident-investigation board was convening to investigate the crash. Col. Rich Wirth, 92nd Bomb Wing Support Group commander, said the plane's maintenance records were seized.
"This area, by fate of God, is an open field. We're very lucky," Wirth said of the crash site near the Fairchild Survival School on the base's east side.
U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton, said he has been assured Friday's accident came during normal touch-and-go exercises and not as a result of trick flying being prepared for the air show.
Fairchild's mission is changing from a base for B-52 bombers to a refueling base. Other B-52s went earlier this year to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.
Seattle Times staff reporter David Schaefer contributed to this report.