Libya Shows What It Says Is Helmet of Downed U.S. Flier

Libyan television showed film of what it said was the helmet of an American flier who took part in the April 15 U.S. bombing raid on Libya.

The television program, monitored in Britain late Thursday, showed the helmet with the name “Lorence” visible on the front and said it had washed ashore west of Tripoli.

One U.S. F-111 fighter-bomber which took part in the raid was lost, and the U.S. Air Force identified the two crewmen as Capt. Paul Lorence, 31, and Capt. Fernando Ribas-Dominicci, 33. Both were based at the U.S. air base at Lakenheath in Suffolk, east of London.

Lorence, of San Francisco, was the weapons system officer on the plane.

“It’s certainly conceivable that a helmet could have washed ashore,” said a Pentagon official who asked not to be named. “We’ve already said we believe that missing plane crashed in the Mediterranean Sea off the Tripoli coast.”