The fighter plane that Laredo native Capt. Fred Ochoa, USMC, helped develop during World War II — the twin-engine Grumman F7F — will be showcased with other vintage warplanes by collector Rod Lewis and his Lewis Air Legends team at the February 17 WBCA Stars and Stripes Air Show Spectacular.
Capt. Ochoa, who was a dive bomber pilot for the U.S. Marine Corps over the Pacific, grew up in Laredo and graduated from Martin High School in 1937. He was the third of eight brothers, six of whom served in World War II — Louis Jr., Albert, Fred, Edward, Peter, and Rod. Art and Richard, the youngest Ochoa brothers, served in the Korean Conflict.
Capt. Ochoa was 26 when he perished in a July 27, 1945 night flight of the new high performance twin-engine aircraft, the Grumman F7F, from Patuxent Naval Air Station to the Naval Air Station in Anacostia, MD.
He was a test pilot in the same squadron with John Glenn, who later became an astronaut and a U.S. Senator.
Seventy-four years later, a number of his nieces and nephews from throughout the country will gather at the WBCA Air Show to honor their uncle who gave his life in service to his country.
Ochoa family members will have a booth near the aircraft to share their research about Fred and the remarkable story of this Laredo hero.
The story below about Claire Ochoa Weaver’s effort to compile a complete story of her uncle’s service and the details of the crash that took his life is reprinted with permission from the March 16, 2017 issue of loudonnow (https://loudounnow.com/2017/03/16/72-years-later-family-of-marine-pilot-returns-to-bluemont-crash-site/ ) The accompanying art is also from loudonnow.
Other details are available at https://captfredochoa.wixsite.com/honor/research-blog.> and lewisairlegends.com
72 Years Later, Family of Marine Pilot Returns to Bluemont Crash Site
Seven decades after a fatal plane crash near Bluemont, the family of the Marine Corps test pilot, Capt. Fred Charles Ochoa, are planning an unusual reunion on Saturday.
On July 27, 1945, Ochoa, 26, of Laredo, TX, was making a night flight in a new high performance twin-engine aircraft, the Grumman F7F Tigercat, from Patuxent Naval Air Station to the Naval Air Station in Anacostia, MD. The plane crashed on the Blue Ridge, approximately 5 miles southwest of Bluemont.
For 70 years, family members had believed the crash happened near Patuxent and that Ochoa lost instruments and crashed into the ground.
A curious niece, Claire Ochoa Weaver of Glen Allen, uncovered new information. She had inherited a rosary and a desk from her father. Her father told her the rosary had been in his mother’s possession since 1945; it was sent to her after having been found at the crash scene.
In 2015, tucked away inside the desk, she found an old, worn envelope sent by a chaplain at Patuxent with articles about the crash. The family began contacting Loudoun and Clarke County government agencies, libraries, and the Patuxent NAS to learn more, Laura Christiansen at Leesburg’s Thomas Balch Library provided them with an Aug. 2, 1945, Blue Ridge Herald account of the crash not seen before by family. The paper reported, “The plane was reported to be on fire when it flew over Bloomfield…and crashed into the tree tops on the mountain side of the James Kelley farm.”
Christiansen also put the family in touch with the Friends of Bluemont historical society and that lead to a contact with a J.J. Kelley who was a young boy at the time and remembered going to the scene of the crash the next day. Last summer, he met with family members at the farm and met with other neighbors who reported finding pieces of the plane for years.
Family members will return this weekend to visit the crash site and, perhaps, learn more about the crash. Fred Ochoa’s youngest and only surviving sibling, Richard Ochoa will travel from El Paso, TX, and join approximately 20 Ochoa family members from Texas, Arizona, Illinois, California, and Virginia to visit the Bluemont, Round Hill, and Purcellville areas this weekend. A community gathering is planned at the American Legion Post Hall at 111 Plains Road near Middleburg from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, March 18.
Anyone with first or second-hand recollection or artifact relating to the crash and the days following, is asked to contact the family at CaptFredOchoa@gmail.com.
Learn more at captfredochoa.wixsite.com/honor.
