This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Death Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/JW.2ADE/7759 Message Board Post: Marine Jet Pilot Dies In Crash A Marine Corps pilot, attached to the Mojave Auxiliary Marine Station was killed last Thursday, July 30, at 1:15 p.m. when his jet fighter plane, an F9F-2 crashed into the side of a mountain 6 miles northwest of Mojave. He was identified as 2nd Lt. John J. De Pasqua of Randolph, Mass. by the El Toro Marine Base. De Pasqua was a member of the 232nd Marine Fighter Squadron find was testing the new jet plane when he crashed into the mountains 2 miles north of Hwy. 466. Reports said it was traveling in excess of 450 miles an hour when it hit. Kern County Firemen said the exploding jet threw burning parts over a 300-yd.radius and started a brush fire that burned most of the night. A Marine rescue crew reached the scene about 4 p.m. and the body was removed by a helicopter from El Toro. The body was brought to the O'Donnell Funeral Home to await arrival of the widow Claire Margaret De Pasqua of Santa Ana. Fireman under Capt. Woods of Mojave station and also men from Tehachapi and Keene were on the scene to fight the fire. Posted by East Kern Genealogical Society Courtesy of Mojave Desert News California City, Kern, CA Published: 06 Aug 1953 .