6 Fliers Described As Young But Experienced

After hearing news of the crash of two Air Force cargo planes Monday night, Friedel and Heinz Osterfeld of Port Townsend waited by the telephone for their son to call and say, "Mom, Dad, I'm OK."

The call didn't come. Early yesterday morning, an Air Force chaplain and two officers knocked on the Osterfelds' door to tell them what they had feared:

Their son, Tech. Sgt. Peter L. Osterfeld, was one of 13 members of the 62nd Airlift Wing at McChord Air Force Base killed in the midair collision over Montana. Osterfeld and Staff Sgt. Monte L. Bissett of Lacey were the two Washington residents among those killed.

Osterfeld had told his parents he was flying Monday, so when they heard news of the accident, the couple had a bad feeling. "By the time the chaplain came to our house, we already knew," said a grief-stricken Friedel Osterfeld. "He would have called us that night."

She described her son Peter, 34, as "a nice, clean-living young man," utterly devoted to the Air Force. He had served 16 years and was only four years from retirement, she said.

"He had plans to go around the world in a sailboat after he retired," she said. He also had planned to get married this year and eventually settle down in a recently purchased home in Spanaway, Pierce County.

Friedel Osterfeld broke the news to her son's fiancee, in Germany, early yesterday.

Just down the street from McChord Air Force Base, Rollie's Tavern is the place where fliers back from dangerous missions have hoisted many a "glad-I'm-home, glad-I'm-alive" beer.

Yesterday, there was no celebrating at the tables where crewmen

often spend time with their friends. Grief, guilt, respect and renewed conviction for military service permeated the place instead.

Several members of the 62nd said yesterday that those killed were young but experienced fliers with at least 1,000 hours of flying time each. They were described as professionals worthy of respect, but also fun-loving members of a close-knit community.

The accident occurred when two C-141 Starlifters on a refueling exercise collided between 24,000 and 27,000 feet over Harlem, Mont., a few miles south of the Canadian border, about 8:20 p.m. PST.

Two other McChord-based C-141s also involved in the mission returned safely to the base south of Tacoma, as did a Washington Air National Guard KC-135 tanker plane from Fairchild Air Force Base at Spokane.

Weather and mechanical problems are not suspected in the collision, authorities said yesterday.

One body was still missing early today, said Capt. Ray Martell, a spokesman at McChord.

Col. Howard Ingersoll, commander of the 62nd Airlift Wing, said indications were that the planes collided after part of the refueling exercise had been completed and one jet was moving back into formation.

Standard midair refueling exercises typically involve four planes taking turns hooking up to a tanker. The planes are supposed to maintain a 500-foot vertical separation and stay two miles from each other horizontally in formation, Ingersoll said. At their closest, the plane moving back into position is to be no more than three-quarters of a mile from any other.

Six crew members were on one of the downed planes and seven on another.

A memorial service for the crew members will take place on the base at 10 a.m. Friday.

-- Material from The Associated Press is included in this report. --------------------------------------------------------------- THE VICTIMS

Besides Washington residents Tech. Sgt. Peter L. Osterfeld of Port Townsend and Staff Sgt. Monte L. Bissett of Lacey, those killed in the crash of two Air Force cargo jets from McChord Air Force Base were Capt. David J. Sielewicz, Newport, N.H.; Capt. Jimmy Lee Jenkins, Marietta, Ga.; Capt. Mark A. Elster, Shelby, Tenn.; Capt. Edward D. Parent Jr., Hamburg, Pa.; and Capt. Banks E. Wilkinson, St. Francis, Ark.

Capt. Kevin M. Maguire, Langhorne, Pa.; 1st Lt. Edward H. Hoyle III, Marshfield, Mass.; Tech. Sgt. David R. Young, Carmel, Ind.; Staff Sgt. Terrence J. Miyoshi, Honolulu; Senior Airman Wilbert T. Brown III, Galveston, Tex.; and Airman 1st Class George Anthony Moreland, Lakenheath Village, England.