Originally dedicated to four Diamond Crash pilots, it has been expanded to include more. A Mural is on the wall behind a stone monument.
In memory of these four Thunderbird pilots who gave their lives in the service of our country
Maj Norm Lowry
Capt Willie Mays
Capt Pete Peterson
Capt Mark Melancon
Dedicated Jan 18, 1983
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from Wikipedia
January 18, 1982: The "Diamond Crash", the worst training crash in Thunderbird history, occurred when Maj Norman L. Lowry, Capt Willie Mays, Capt Joseph N. Peterson, and Capt Mark Melancon were killed while practicing a line abreast loop during training at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field in T-38s.
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The 1982 Diamond Crash was the worst operational accident to befall the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds Air Demonstration Team involving show aircraft. Four Northrop T-38 Talon jets crashed during operational training on 18 January 1982, killing all four pilots.
The Thunderbirds were practicing at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, Nevada (now Creech Air Force Base) for a performance at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. Four T-38As, Numbers 1-4, comprising the basic diamond formation, hit the desert floor almost simultaneously on Range 65, now referred to as "The Gathering of Eagles Range". The pilots were practicing the four-plane line abreast loop, in which the aircraft climb in side-by-side formation several thousand feet, pull over in a slow, backward loop, and descend at more than 400 mph. The planes were meant to level off at about 100 feet (30 m); Instead, the formation struck the ground at high speed.
The four pilots died instantly: Major Norm Lowry, III, leader, 37, of Radford, Virginia; Captain Willie Mays, left wing, 31, of Ripley, Tennessee; Captain Joseph "Pete" Peterson, right wing, 32, of Tuskegee, Alabama; and Captain Mark E. Melancon, slot, 31, of Dallas, Texas.
Col. Mike Wallace, of the Public Information Office at nearby Nellis AFB, home of the demonstration team, said that Major General Gerald D. Larson, the head of an Air Force investigation board, arrived at Nellis from New Hampshire at 10 p.m. that night. "Larson and a team of 10 to 15 experts are expected to spend three weeks studying the wreckage of the four T-38s - the worst [training] crash in the 28 year history of the Air Force stunt flying team. The jets crashed almost simultaneously with what near-by Indian Springs residents described as an earthquake-like explosion that looked like a napalm bomb. Wreckage was strewn across a 1-square-mile area of the desert 60 miles north of Las Vegas."
Initial speculation was that the accident might have been due to pilot error, that the leader might have misjudged his altitude or speed and the other three pilots repeated the error. However, the Air Force concluded that the crash was due to a jammed stabilizer on the lead jet. The other pilots, in accordance with their training, did not break formation.
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