Capt. Kelly Hinz Was One Of Two Pilots Killed In Apparent Mid-Air Over Iraq

When two USMC F/A-18 Hornets apparently collided in mid-air over Iraq Monday, it was an especially telling blow for one of the families. For Kurt and Luke Hinz, along with their mother, Pat, it was the second aviation tragedy in less than a year. In May, 2004, Pat's husband, Donald, head of the Tuskegee Airmen Red Tail Project, was lost in a P-51 accident in Wisconsin. Now, her son, 30-year old Kelly, was gone as well.

Captain Kelly Hinz and his leader, Major John Spahr, 42, were both lost over Iraq Monday when their fighters apparently collided in bad weather at 30,000 feet during a night flight. Both had flown from the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) on a mission in support of Iraqi Freedom. There was no indication of hostile fire.

Capt. Hinz's father died when his P-51 made an off-airfield landing during an air show at Bay City, WI. Failure of the aircraft's Y drive caused the engine to completely stop in mid-flight just after a high-speed pass at the show. He's memorialized on the Red Tail Project web site and another legacy site.

"Don had a passion for telling a vastly unheralded part of American history in a way that didn't include patting himself on the back," said Stan Ross, who worked with Don on the Red Tail Project. He was quoted by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "That's the way he carried himself, and that's the way he raised his family. I learned a lot from him, and I know his sons did, too."

"This is the guy we would want over there fighting for us," said Don Mardell, who captained Kelly's Alpine ski team in his home town of Woodbury, MN. He told the Star-Tribune Kelly "is the poster, better than anything you see on TV. A good-looking guy, an athlete.... I know it's a cliche, but he is exactly the kind of guy every mother dreams her daughter will marry."

And married he was, to a woman named Molly, who bore him a daughter, Abby. The three lived in San Diego, CA, while Kelly was deployed on the USS Carl Vinson.

"He called me on the night before he left," Miley told the Minneapolis newspaper. "He said, 'I feel great. This is what I have trained for.' He was so excited to go and take part in the operations over there that when I hung up the phone, I felt positive for him."

Captain Kelly Hinz, USMC, has gone West, into the sunset of his father who flew there before him. Happy trails, Kelly and Don. You are in our thoughts and your families are in our prayers.

FMI: www.redtail.org, www.usmc.mil