Fifty-five years after two U.S. Air Force pilots mysteriously disappeared after taking off from Los Angeles, the pair were memorialized Friday by family members who gathered at Dockweiler State Beach beneath the flight path at Los Angeles International Airport.
The wreckage of the Lockheed T33A jet the pair were flying on Oct. 15, 1955, was discovered last year a mile offshore.
Search crews at the time were conducting a hunt for a missing WWII-era female pilot.
About 40 family members of Lt. Richard M. Theiler and Lt. Paul D. Smith were among those who gathered on the beach to hear the pair eulogized.
After the beach ceremony, the participants boarded two boats to travel to the crash site, where the plane’s wreckage sits about 100 feet below the surface, and scattered flowers in the area.
“America was in her prime, leading the world” when the pair disappeared, said Air Force Chaplain Lt. David Sarmiento. “These were the early days of the U.S. Air Force that were filled with promise.”
–Bob Pool