Cdr. John "Bug" Roach
ejected but was killed when his chute failed to deploy. His A-4E
Skyhawk BuNo 150073 of VFA-126 crashed into the Pacific Ocean 100km off
San Diega.
Wanted to let you know that the A-4 fatality on 2-10-91 was my friend (and everybody's) Cdr. John "Bug" Roach. I saw Bug less than a month before his death, and he had the world by the tail. As the navy's senior LSO he was a limited duty officer. He grinned beneath his moustache and said, "Long as I pass the physical they gotta fly me." He'd managed 40-odd Desert Storm missions but told me, "I'm swearing off war to teach the young guys."
One of a kind, muchly missed.
Barrett Tillman
8th November 2005
Photographs with thanks via
Jan Jacobs
The HOOK Magazine
A
tribute to Cdr. John "Bug" Roach can be found by clicking on either of
his his images.