Kern County Obituaries	

Loran G. Witty													
															
Submitted by Don Stowell 16 Feb 2008													
															
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Source Unknown; 3 May 1956

Four Marines died in this plane crash last Friday, April 25 at approximately 
11:00 a.m. when two F3D Sky Knights collided one mile west of Mojave. A Marine 
Corp spokesman said one of the pilots radioed he thought his nose wheel was stuck 
and the pilot of' the other ship flew underneath to check it. Suddenly the two 
aircraft locked together and crashed in flames. Victims were: 1st Lt. Loran G. 
Witty, 23; 1st. Lt. Kenneth. D. Erickson, 24; M/Sgt. Robert A. Gerhard, 35; and 
T/Sgt. John J. Ellis, 29. All were attached to Marine Air Weather Fighter 
Squadron 542 of El Toro.