Capt Frank Michael Mendes
1950-1982
Mike had flown up to Comox Canadian AFB on Vancouver Island to fly as a target for a night exercise.
He was flying solo in a T-33. On the night that the crash occurred it was snowing heavily. There was some
confusion about an ATC instruction. On the departure Mike was instructed to turn to a heading and climb to a higher
altitude. The confusion the difference between U.S. and Canadian ATC terminology. Mike thought that he was to turn
and then cimb. The controller meant for him to turn and climb at the same time. As a result, Mike's aircraft struck a
nearby mountaintop just a couple of hundred feet below the peak of the mountain. Search and Rescue was severely hampered by
the heavy snows and the search for Mike was eventually halted. Mike's remains were recovered four days later, and his
aircraft remains untouched on the mountainside
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