Remains of Martin, Fellow Officer Airlifted to Base

The remains of Capt. Dean Paul Martin and weapons officer Capt. Ramon Ortiz were airlifted Thursday from the wreckage of their F-4C fighter jet on a remote mountain northeast of Banning, a spokesman for the Air National Guard said.

The remains of Martin, 35, son of entertainer Dean Martin, and Ortiz, 39, of Las Vegas, were brought to March Air Force Base, where death certificates were to be issued by the Riverside County coroner, said Maj. Steven Mensik at a press conference here. He said the remains will be transferred to a local mortuary.

A memorial service for the men has been scheduled for sometime during the first week of April at the base, he said.

Martin and Ortiz, both members of the 163rd Tactical Fighter Group based here, perished in the crash that occurred Saturday during a snowstorm 10 minutes after their plane took off from March AFB on a routine practice bombing mission. The jet slammed into the granite mountain at the 5,500-foot level at an estimated speed of 400 m.p.h.

A five-day search for the plane ended Wednesday afternoon when a military helicopter spotted charred debris scattered across a 100-by-200-foot area, Mensik said.

A preliminary examination of the wreckage suggested that “neither man had even attempted to use parachutes or eject,” Mensik said.

Mensik said the cause of the crash is still unknown and that an investigation is continuing. “Generally, these investigations are completed and results known in 30 to 90 days,” he said.

Also at the press conference, Lt. Col. Arthur Cornelius, a guardsman who participated in the search effort, compared the deaths of Martin and Ortiz to “losing a member of the family.”

He said Martin “was a conscientious, dedicated . . . very safe pilot,” and recalled Ortiz as a “very sharp, professional, whizzo crew member.”

Meanwhile, Guard units combed the rugged crash site for six 25-pound practice “marker bombs” and two rockets from a seat ejection system, Mensik said. He added that the bombs “have a small charge in them that when dropped lets off a cloud of smoke.”