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T-38 down near Edwards


Breckey

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Air Force jet crashes north of Edwards AFB

CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. (AP) — A military jet has crashed north of Edwards Air Force base in Southern California.

Kern County fire spokesman Sean Collins says the Talon T-38 went down about 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the Mojave Desert.

Collins says he has no immediate information on the crew. A T-38 can carry two people.

Lets hope they got out.

Edited by breckey
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http://www.edwards.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123150611

from 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

5/21/2009 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- An Air Force T-38 Talon crashed at 1:15 p.m. today approximately nine miles north of Edwards Air Force Base.

The aircraft is from Edwards Air Force Base. At the time of the accident it was on a flight test training mission.

Two crewmembers were on board; their condition is unknown at this time.

A board of officers will investigate the accident. Additional details will be provided as they become available.

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Dash was one hell of a dude. I got up with him a few weekend mornings to brew beer. His beer equipment was mostly homebuilt- old kegs cut or welded together to form boiling pots and storage bins. Heck, his entire house was a science project of some sort. Most of the furniture was built in his metal shop --which was in the spare bedroom of his crappy issued-house on base. Another side project of his was attempting to refine algae-based fuels, and the home of this work was also his living room.

Dash made you believe that American know-how still existed, and made you damn proud that he decided to fly for the Air Force rather than cashing in his skills. I have no doubt that he would have been a strong leader in the Dragon Lady test community. He will be missed.

:beer: Cheers, Dash. Tomorrow's brew day will be for you.

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A Toast...

Some things never change. I went to school with Mark, he built a potato gun so large and powerful that to ignite the chamber reliably, he wired up a bank of capacitors to provide the spark. Damn thing would launch a honey bottle several hundred yards.

During Saturday inspections he'd screw around constantly, run by your room (I was a freshman) and wing a handful of pennies into your room.

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That all sounds like Graz! His pet project in the Forks was turning a turbo from a semi into a jet engine. His idea of killing time while deployed was reading up the art of metallurgy. With his brain power and creative thinking, he was exactly where he needed to be in the AF, TPS.

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It's 0614 on the West Coast, and I just got woken up to the news. I hired Dash into the U-2.

I was there when he earned his "Dash" callsign (stands for Dumb Ass Shot Himself) on the Rod and Gun Club pistol range.

He really is a "mad scientist".

I'm tired of funerals for pilots I know.

Edited by Huggyu2
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It's 0614 on the West Coast, and I just got woken up to the news. I hired Dash into the U-2.

I was there when he earned his "Dash" callsign (stands for Dumb Ass Shot Himself) on the Rod and Gun Club pistol range.

He really is a "mad scientist".

I'm tired of funerals for pilots I know.

Just got the word here. I saw him on Wednesday. Talked to him for a while and he asked me to join him for lunch. I couldn't because I had to go to "a meeting". Wish I could have that one back...

Godspeed dash.

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I saw him on Wednesday. Talked to him for a while and he asked me to join him for lunch. I couldn't because I had to go to "a meeting". Wish I could have that one back...

That's a sonofabitch....

:salut:

Didn't know ya, DASH...but based on what your bros think if you, I bet I would have liked to.

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"Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage, must in time be utterly lost" (Walt Whitman)

I do not know this man, but such can be said that a man at the time if his death would be honored by men speaking his name in the way you gentleman have.

:beer: Him Him

-summers

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Guest Lockjaw25

Damn... :beer:

Also heard that they've called off the search for the other two Seahawk crew members...

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Just got the word here. I saw him on Wednesday. Talked to him for a while and he asked me to join him for lunch. I couldn't because I had to go to "a meeting". Wish I could have that one back...

Godspeed dash.

Ouch bros. This one hurts, especially when framed like that.

Thoughts and prayers...

Chuck

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Dash was one hell of a dude. I got up with him a few weekend mornings to brew beer. His beer equipment was mostly homebuilt- old kegs cut or welded together to form boiling pots and storage bins. Heck, his entire house was a science project of some sort. Most of the furniture was built in his metal shop --which was in the spare bedroom of his crappy issued-house on base. Another side project of his was attempting to refine algae-based fuels, and the home of this work was also his living room.

Dash made you believe that American know-how still existed, and made you damn proud that he decided to fly for the Air Force rather than cashing in his skills. I have no doubt that he would have been a strong leader in the Dragon Lady test community. He will be missed.

:beer: Cheers, Dash. Tomorrow's brew day will be for you.

Graz was a very good friend of mine from the Zoo and UPT. Let's see where to start the good stories...

Small "bombs" made from 2 liter soda bottles and some chemical in the BBQ pits in the Laughlin dorms...

Stopping on the way from Laughlin to San Antonio to "assess" the horsepower of his Honda Accord...

Teaching him how to weld so he could build his monster trailer to move to the Forks...

Writing "Stew is GAY" on every flat surface of the flight room in T-1s...

He'll be missed - great pilot - awesome American - true friend. Memorial Day has a little different meaning this time around...

BF

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Seems like a lot of folks here know Dash, so check this out: www.markdashgraziano.com

The site will grow, so check back. There's a lot of photos his friends are going to put on there.

Story: we had a change of command about a year ago. Big, outdoor CoC. Dash is scheduled to fly that day high, i.e. in the space suit. After a U-2 pilot gets suited up, they put him in the big bread van with 2 lazy boy chairs in the back, and transport him to the U-2. Well, Dash decides HE can drive the van, and convinces the airmen to let him do it.

So, in full space suit, on his portable O2 system, he goes driving to his jet. On the flightline, he drives right by the Wing CC, CV, OG/CC, et. al... They look up and see a guy driving a GOV, on the flightline, in a space suit. CV looks at OG and says something to the effect of "is this the new standard?". Needless to say, after the CoC, Dash got his ass chewed by the OG/CC. Can't remember the repercussions, but they went away with time.

Edited by Huggyu2
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Seems like a lot of folks here know Dash, so check this out: www.markdashgraziano.com

The site will grow, so check back. There's a lot of photos his friends are going to put on there.

Story: we had a change of command about a year ago. Big, outdoor CoC. Dash is scheduled to fly that day high, i.e. in the space suit. After a U-2 pilot gets suited up, they put him in the big bread van with 2 lazy boy chairs in the back, and transport him to the U-2. Well, Dash decides HE can drive the van, and convinces the airmen to let him do it.

So, in full space suit, on his portable O2 system, he goes driving to his jet. On the flightline, he drives right by the Wing CC, CV, OG/CC, et. al... They look up and see a guy driving a GOV, on the flightline, in a space suit. CV looks at OG and says something to the effect of "is this the new stadard?". Needless to say, after the CoC, Dash got his ass chewed by the OG/CC. Can't remember the repercussions, but they went away with time.

Awesome :thumbsup:

Unfortunately, sounds like we lost another one of the guys who "got it." Him, him... :salut:

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