The State - News from May 10, 1989

The pilot killed in a collision between U.S. Navy F-18 Hornets over Central California has been identified as a British naval officer. Lt. Cmdr. John Ellis, 35, was killed in the collision that sent his jet slamming into a ravine in rugged desert foothills in the Owens Valley, said Lt. Cmdr. Gene Okamoto, spokesman for Point Mugu Naval Air Station, where the pilots were based. Ellis, who was married and the father of two, was part of an exchange program between the American and British navies, Okamoto said. The pilot of the other jet, Lt. Kenneth Houck, 31, of Camarillo, ejected safely.