Fairchild crash anniversary

On Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, the family of 1st Lt. Gray E. Tillman hiked through dense undergrowth in Mt. Spokane State Park to find and mark the site of a KC-135 aircraft crash that killed Tillman and 43 others in the plane on this date in 1962.

Section:Gallery

Sat., Sept. 10, 2022

Talking to their mother on a cellphone, siblings Grace Doumani, Gray Tillman and brother Randy Tillman, right, stand next to a makeshift memorial, made of an engraved piece of wreckage, on the spot in the Mount Spokane State Park where their father's plane crashed in 1962 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. Their father, Lt. Gray E. Tillman was an Air Force pilot shuttling from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Fairchild Air Force Base in an KC-135 when the plane struck the side of Mount Kit Carson. The Tillmans, all preschool-aged when it happened, hiked to the spot Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 for the 60th anniversary of the crash.

Jesse Tinsley
Gray Tillman, left, and brother Randy Tillman, right, stand back and appraise their handiwork after putting up a makeshift memorial, made of an engraved piece of wreckage on the spot in the Mount Spokane State Park where their father's plane crashed in 1962 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. Their father, Lt. Gray E. Tillman was an Air Force pilot shuttling from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Fairchild Air Force Base in an KC-135 when the plane struck the side of Mount Kit Carson. The Tillmans and several family members hiked to the spot Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 for the 60th anniversary of the crash.

Jesse Tinsley
Gray Tillman, right, and other family members hike to the spot in the Mount Spokane State Park where his father's plane crashed in 1962 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. His father was an Air Force pilot shuttling from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Fairchild Air Force Base in an KC-135 when the plane struck the side of Mount Kit Carson. Tillman and several family members hiked to the spot Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 for the 60th anniversary of the crash.

Jesse Tinsley
Randy Tillman plants a makeshift memorial, made of an engraved piece of wreckage on a metal post on the spot in the Mount Spokane State Park where his father's plane crashed in 1962 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. Their father, Lt. Gray E. Tillman was an Air Force pilot shuttling from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Fairchild Air Force Base in an KC-135 when the plane struck the side of Mount Kit Carson. Tillman and several family members hiked to the spot Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 for the 60th anniversary of the crash.

Jesse Tinsley
Jack Tillman, left, and other family members hike to the spot in the Mount Spokane State Park where his grandfather's plane crashed in 1962 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. His father was an Air Force pilot shuttling from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Fairchild Air Force Base in an KC-135 when the plane struck the side of Mount Kit Carson. Tillman and several family members hiked to the spot Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 for the 60th anniversary of the crash.

Jesse Tinsley
Mount Spokane State Park Ranger Russell Aldrich, left, compares GPS locations with Randy Tillman, center and brother Gray Tillman near the spot in Mount Spokane State Park where his father's plane crashed in 1962 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. His father was an Air Force pilot shuttling from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Fairchild Air Force Base on a KC-135 when the plane struck the side of Mount Kit Carson. Several family members hiked to the spot for the 60th anniversary of the crash.

Jesse Tinsley
Grace Doumani, right, hugs Seana Hurley at the spot in Mount Spokane State Park where her father's plane crashed in 1962 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. Her father was an Air Force pilot shuttling from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Fairchild Air Force Base in an KC-135 when the plane struck the side of Mount Kit Carson. Doumani and several members of the family of Lt. Gray E. Tillman, who died in the crash, hiked to the spot Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 for the 60th anniversary of the crash.

Jesse Tinsley
Jack Tillman, 20, looks around the spot in the Mount Spokane State Park where his grandfather's plane crashed in 1962 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. His grandfather was an Air Force pilot shuttling from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Fairchild Air Force Base in an KC-135 when the plane struck the side of Mount Kit Carson. Tillman and several family members hiked to the spot Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 for the 60th anniversary of the crash.

Jesse Tinsley
Talking to their mother on a cellphone, siblings Grace Doumani, Gray Tillman and Randy Tillman, right, stand next to a makeshift memorial, made of an engraved piece of wreckage, on the spot in the Mount Spokane State Park where their father's plane crashed in 1962 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. Their father, Lt. Gray E. Tillman was an Air Force pilot shuttling from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Fairchild Air Force Base in an KC-135 when the plane struck the side of Mount Kit Carson. The Tillmans, all preschool-aged when it happened, hiked to the spot Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 for the 60th anniversary of the crash.

Jesse Tinsley
Siblings Gray Tillman, left, sister Grace Doumani and brother Randy Tillman, right, pose for a photo after putting up a makeshift memorial, made of an engraved piece of wreckage on the spot in the Mount Spokane State Park where their father's plane crashed in 1962 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. Their father, Lt. Gray E. Tillman was an Air Force pilot shuttling from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Fairchild Air Force Base in an KC-135 when the plane struck the side of Mount Kit Carson. The Tillmans and several family members hiked to the spot Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 for the 60th anniversary of the crash.

Jesse Tinsley
Talking to their mother on a cellphone, siblings Grace Doumani, Gray Tillman and brother Randy Tillman, right, stand next to a makeshift memorial, made of an engraved piece of wreckage, on the spot in the Mount Spokane State Park where their father's plane crashed in 1962 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. Their father, Lt. Gray E. Tillman was an Air Force pilot shuttling from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Fairchild Air Force Base in an KC-135 when the plane struck the side of Mount Kit Carson. The Tillmans, all preschool-aged when it happened, hiked to the spot Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 for the 60th anniversary of the crash.

Jesse Tinsley
Gray Tillman points to the spot in the Mount Spokane State Park where his father's plane crashed in 1962 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. The father, Lt. Gray E. Tillman was an Air Force pilot shuttling from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Fairchild Air Force Base in an KC-135 when the plane struck the side of Mount Kit Carson. The Tillmans and several family members hiked to the spot Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 for the 60th anniversary of the crash.

Jesse Tinsley
An piece of plane wreckage, engraved with a message, makes a makeshift memorial on the spot in the Mount Spokane State Park where a KC-135 plane crashed in 1962 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. The family of Lt. Gray E. Tillman, an Air Force pilot shuttling from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Fairchild Air Force Base in an KC-135 when the plane struck the side of Mount Kit Carson were at the spot Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 for place the monument on the 60th anniversary of the crash.

Jesse Tinsley
Siblings Gray Tillman, left, sister Grace Doumani, center, and brother Randy Tillman, second from right, read a short prayer after puttingnup a makeshift memorial, made of an engraved piece of wreckage on the spot in the Mount Spokane State Park where their father's plane crashed in 1962 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. Second from left is Tyler Tillman, son of Gray and Roland Tillman, grandchild of Randy. Their father and grandfather, Lt. Gray E. Tillman, was an Air Force pilot shuttling from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Fairchild Air Force Base in an KC-135 when the plane struck the side of Mount Kit Carson. The Tillmans and several family members hiked to the spot Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 for the 60th anniversary of the crash.

Jesse Tinsley
Talking to their mother on a cellphone, siblings Grace Doumani, Gray Tillman and Randy Tillman, right, stand next to a makeshift memorial, made of an engraved piece of wreckage, on the spot in the Mount Spokane State Park where their father's plane crashed in 1962 on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. Their father, Lt. Gray E. Tillman was an Air Force pilot shuttling from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Fairchild Air Force Base in an KC-135 when the plane struck the side of Mount Kit Carson. The Tillmans, all preschool-aged when it happened, hiked to the spot Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 for the 60th anniversary of the crash.

Jesse Tinsley
Airmen help remove wreckage and the remains of victims of a Sept. 10, 1962, tanker crash on Mount Kit Carson that killed all 44 aboard. They were bound for Fairchild Air Force Base from South Dakota.

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Remains of a refueling boom lie in foreground in this view of the site of the crash of a KC-135 tanker on Mount Kit Carson in this Sept. 11, 1962, photo. Broken trees show the plane's path to the ground.

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Wreckage of a KC-135 jet tanker is strewn up the mountainside where it crashed in this Sept. 11, 1962, photo. The crash site is in a remote area of Mount Kit Carson today, reachable via trails in the Mount Spokane State Park system.

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1962 - Force of the plane's descent can be measured by its effect on this mammoth fir. Trees were sheared like wheat stalks as the passenger-loaded tanker angled into the mountain, just west of Mt. Spokane.

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