TRUAX FIELD AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE

MANISTIQUE, Mich. – Officials have released the identity of the Wisconsin-based fighter pilot who died after a plane crashed in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on Tuesday, Dec. 8. On Friday, the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 115th Fighter Wing identified the deceased fighter pilot as Captain Durwood “Hawk” Jones, a 37-year-old decorated combat veteran from Albuquerque, New Mexico. At about 8 p.m. on Dec. 8, Jones’ F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed in the Hiawatha National Forest during a training mission. Today the 115th Fighter Wing identified Capt. The F-16 was assigned to the 115th Fighter Wing at Truax Field Air National Guard Base in Madison, Wisconsin.

MANISTIQUE, Mich. – A Wisconsin-based fighter jet crashed in a national forest in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula while on a training mission and searchers were looking Wednesday for the pilot, who was the only person aboard, authorities said. The F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 115th Fighter Wing at Truax Field Air National Guard Base in Madison crashed about 8 p.m. Tuesday, the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs said in a statement. It was initially secured by local emergency responders, but military personnel and safety and security personnel from the 115th Fighter Wing have now responded, the department said. The sheriff’s office has blocked off local roads in the crash area, where he and his deputies did not see any fire or flames in the crash area overnight. An F-16 launched from Truax Field in 2011 plunged into a vacant house in Adams County, Wisconsin.