Tragic top gun’s wife: I’ve lost my best friend
Newlywed’s grief for US fighter pilot killed in North Sea crash
THE newlywed wife of an American fighter pilot who died when his jet crashed into the North Sea paid tribute to her ‘ best friend’ yesterday.
First Lieutenant Kenneth Allen’s F-15C Eagle warplane came down on Monday morning while on a training exercise off the Yorkshire coast.
The airman – from Utah and known as Kage – had served with the US Air Force’s 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk since February.
He was assistant chief of weapons and tactics for the 493rd Fighter Squadron. He wed wife Hannah in a civil ceremony this year. She described him as ‘the love of my life’ in a heartfelt tribute.
She wrote on her Facebook page: ‘He is gone. I’m shaking. No words to express how shaken I am. Kage was perfect, never been treated with more love and respect in my life.’ She added: ‘He was my absolute best friend... He was so Christ-like in how he cared for others.
‘I feel beyond blessed to have loved him in this life and can’t wait to love him for eternity. #youaremyforever’
Colonel Will Marshall, commander of 48th Fighter Wing, said: ‘We are deeply saddened by the loss of Lt Allen and mourn with his family and his fellow Reapers in the 493rd Fighter Squadron.
‘The tremendous outpouring of love and support from our communities has been a ray of light in this time of darkness.’ HM Coastguard, which co- ordinated the search efforts, said it received reports that an aircraft went into the sea 85 miles off Flamborough Head.
Wreckage was located and the pilot was later found dead. Investigators
are probing the cause of the crash, but RAF sources said it could have been due to foggy weather. The F-15 has been used by the US Air Force since 1979. In
October 2014 an F-15 based at RAF Lakenheath crashed in fields near Spalding in Lincolnshire.
The pilot ejected safely. A US Air Force investigation found that the crash was caused by the ‘angle of attack’ of the aircraft and ‘imperfections’ in the assembly of the jet’s nose cap. In October 2015 US pilot Major Taj Sareen, 34, died when his F-18 Hornet jet crashed on farmland near Lakenheath – which is the largest US Air Force-operated base in England, with more than 4,000 personnel.
‘Feel beyond blessed to have loved him ’