A pilot, crew chief and the executive officer of a Hawaii-based Marine air squadron were identified Monday, Aug. 28, as those who died in a fiery MV-22 Osprey crash on a remote tropical island in Australia’s Northern Territory.
Captain Eleanor V. LeBeau, 29, a pilot, from Belleville, IL.; Maj. Tobin J. Lewis, 37, the unit’s executive officer and also a pilot, from Jefferson, CO; and Cpl. Spencer R. Collart, 21, the aircraft’s crew chief, from Arlington, VA, were all part of the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 363 based at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
There were 23 Marines aboard the MV-22 Osprey that crashed on Sunday, Aug. 27, during a multi-national training exercise involving the United States, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor.
The tilt-rotor aircraft – it can lift like a helicopter and fly like a plane – crashed in a tropical jungle and burst into flames, officials said. The exercise, which began on Aug. 21 and ends on Sept. 8, is known as Predator’s Run and simulates a remote island invasion using air, ground and Naval forces.
All of the injured were flown from Melville Island about 50 miles to the Royal Darwin Hospital in Darwin, officials said. Three Marines from Camp Pendleton’s 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment remain in the hospital, one in critical condition and two in stable condition, according to officials. Seventeen other Marines were taken to the hospital but were treated and released with minor injuries, said 1st Lt. Romero Lamar.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of three respected and beloved members of the MRF-D family,” Col Brendan Sullivan, commanding officer of Marine Rotational Force -Darwin and regimental commander of 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division from Camp Pendleton, said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families and with all involved.”
Sullivan said the Marines will continue to support the “ongoing recovery and investigative efforts” as the…
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