Kenneth George Orvis

Second Lieutenant Kenneth G. Orvis was killed in an aircraft accident near Wichita, Kansas on 17 July 1969.

I didn't Know Ken Orvis at the zoo, but we were good friends and car pool buddies at Vance UPT. We still keep in touch with his wife (long ago remarried to another zoomie). Ken was killed during a redo of his last UPT flight 'cause he pinked the climbout. After he passed, the check pilot wanted some stick time so they went to Wichita. Pranged in a tight low level turn after calling a missed approach. Board originally wanted to call it pilot error (Ken's) but uproar made them take a closer look and it was discovered to be servo actuator failure. Great guy, hell of a lot of fun and still miss him after all these years.                                                                                      Bud Templin (August 2013)