Stephen Ray Roseman
Captain Stephen R. Roseman, Class of
1968, lost his life in an aircraft accident approximately 25 miles
southeast of Andersen AFB. Guam on 12 December 1974. He was assigned
to the 60th Bomb Squadron, 43rd Strategic Wing at Andersen. As a cadet,
Captain Roseman was a member of the football team, was active in the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes and was on the Commandant's List.
Following graduation Capt. Roseman was assigned to Williams AFB, Ariz.
and later to Minot, AFB, North Dakota. Services for Captain Roseman
were held on 7 January 1975 at the Academy Cemetery. He is survived
by his wife, Stephanie and his children Melissa, Michael, and Amie.
Gents...
Rick Purnell was one of Steve Roseman's best friends in HS...he was a year
older, and went to the Naval Academy...and today works for Lockheed Martin in
Washington, D.C.
Rick arranged for Mark Torreano and me to meet with Rosie's
daughter, Ammie Roseman-Orr when we were both in DC on business at the same time
several years ago. It was hard to sit there and talk about the father she hardly
knew, but the stories rolled out and she left feeling better for the effort and
we have all stayed in touch since.
Since that time, Mark and I have worked
to help Ammie get as much info as possible about the B-52 crash that killed Rosie
and all but two of the crew back in December of 1974 near Guam, and with some
help from Ed Eberhart, we were able to locate the two survivors of the crash,
and the e-mail below describes some of the info that has been discovered.
I thought you'd appreciate knowing what happened to old # 35.
Neal
Neal/Mark
Ammie being a lawyer took extensive notes from her conversation with
Jack Watson, the copilot on the flight. Here are some relevant facts
and my conclusions after talking to Ammie and reading her notes:
1. Aircraft experienced electrical issues prior to takeoff but those
were resolved.
2. Nearing the end of a routine training flight Steve did a “star
shot” as a training evolution.
3. Doing the star shot required Steve to leave his seat and go to
a sexton.
4. Pilots were descending on approach as he finished the shot but
they were still above 20,000’ altitude and well south of Guam.
5. Electrical problems resurfaced and the pilot lost his attitude
direction indicator (ADI) in the descent.
6. Copilot saw 60 degrees of bank and 30 degtees nose down and they
were “coming out of the sky” when the aircraft broke out
of a mid-deck layer of clouds.
7. Pilot said I have lost control and ordered bailout.
8. Steve was probably not able to regain his seat to eject during
this rapidly deteriorating situation and if he did he likely ejected
out of the envelop.
9. Pilot was known to have said he would “never eject” so
he rode it in.
10. According to witnesses – the B-52 was within 7-miles of Guam
at impact – the aircraft leveled somewhat and hit the water wings
level, bounced and then went-in – and that squares with the pilot
remaining at the controls.
This is sketchy but it makes a certain amount of sense to me. The
long and short of it seems to be that Steve was out of his seat at
the wrong time and the extreme attitudes the aircraft got to probably
prevented him from getting back to it at the moment of crisis. Without
knowing more about the B-52 electrical system it is hard to judge
but it seems to me the pilot lost situational awareness at a critical
time and an inexperienced copilot was (understandably) unable to salvage
the day and/or unwilling to override the boss & take control.
So we lost our friend to the classic unbroken chain of cascading events.
Ammie said she is going to FOIA the accident report. I am now super-curious
to read the whole thing so I hope Ammie gets the report and lets me
read it – if so & I learn anything more I will let you know.
Have a great summer. I look forward to another great game & hopefully
continued dominance on Oct 2. Rick
Couple
of points on this page. I was in the 60th BMS when this incident occurred,
participated in the SAR and discussed it with Jack Watson several
months later. First, it’s the 60th Bomb Squadron, 43rd Strat
Wing…not the 90th.
Rick’s
comment is made without a key piece of information. What Jack Watson
revealed in the sim and later in conversation was that the pilot’s
attitude indicator failed, but the copilot’s did not. The pilot
thought he was flying a normal descent when he was actually in a bank
with a substantial nose down attitude in some weather. Jack was head
down making fuel panel adjustments required by the Descent Checklist
when John Whitley said he couldn’t hold it any more. Jack looked
up at his instruments and at the pilots just before he bailed.
All
this happened at the end of a mission around 0430.
I
liked Steve. He was a good guy for a Zoomie.
Respectfully,
Rod
Beard
