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/8136 Message Board Post: Pilot Dies In Marine Fighter Plane Crash An F9F-9 Cougar swept wing jet fighter plane from the Marine Corps Auxiliary Air Station, Mojave, crashed and burned one half mile east of Hwy. 99 just north of Lebec at 10:40 a.m. Wednesday July 24. The pilot was Major Franklin Herbert Zebley a World War II veteran who saw action in the So. Pacific. He was flying in a four plane formation at 20,000 ft. on a routine training mission. . Apparently the pilot lost control and the plane went in and burned on impact. It hit a small hill on an unidentified ranch according to information furnished by Mojave Marine Base officials. A helicopter carrying a doctor and an ambulance was dispatched to the scene of the accident. The ill-fated plane was attached to Marine Fighter Squadron 123 and was part of the Marine Air Reserve group now training at Mojave. Major Zebley was on two weeks active training with the Marine Air Reserve and his home town was Ontario where he was assistant cashier at the First National Bank. He is survived by his wife, Patti and three boys, Franklin Jr. 11, Ronald 5 and David 2. His parents are deceased. ; The body was taken to O'Donnell Funeral Home in Mojave and will later be shipped to Ontario for services. Posted by East Kern Genealogical Society Courtesy Mojave Desert News, California City, Kern, CA. Published: 25 Jul 1957