This Deceased Air Force Profile is not currently maintained by any Member.
If you would like to take responsibility for researching and maintaining this Deceased profile please click
HERE
This Remembrance Profile was originally created by Sgt Stephen Willcox - Deceased
Contact Info
Home Town Los Angeles
Last Address Los Angeles
Date of Passing Mar 21, 1987
Location of Interment Los Angeles National Cemetery (VA) - Los Angeles, California
On the afternoon of March 21st, 1987, Captain Dean Paul Martin, 35, took off in his F4-C Phantom jet on a routine exercise for the California Air National Guard, scheduled to fly over the snow-covered, cloud-heavy San Bernardino Mountains. Also aboard the aircraft was his weapons officer, Captain Ramon Ortiz, 39. Their aircraft was the middle jet of three Phantoms. Within minutes he and his weapons officer perished after slamming into a mountain at 400 mph.
"RIVERSIDE - Capt. Dean Paul Martin, killed in the March 21 crash of his jet fighter, apparently failed to hear a controller's frantic orders to alter course moments before slamming into a mountainside, authorities said Thursday.
Martin, 35-year old son of entertainer Dean Martin, and his co-pilot, Capt. Ramon Ortiz, 39, died instantly when their Air National Guard F-4C Phantom crashed into the side of a peak near Mt. San Gorgonio, 90 miles east of Los Angeles, during a training mission.
An investigation by the Air National Guard and the Air Force indicated that Martin may have become disoriented or experienced vertigo in a fierce snowstorm and did not hear the command from a controller at Ontario Airport to change directions to avoid the peak, said Master Sgt. William Nicoletti, an Air National Guard spokesman.
The report, released by the Air Force Safety and Inspection Center at Norton Air Force Base, said Martin went into a steep dive just after he discovered that he was heading into a blinding storm.
Information released earlier in the investigation indicated the aircraft had not malfunctioned and that the two men had made no effort to eject before the crash.
According to a transcript of tower communications, the unidentified Ontario controller frantically tried to find alternative courses for Martin and the pilots of two other fighter planes flying in formation to help them avoid the worsening weather conditions.
Two minutes before the crash, the group's leader asked to take the three planes above the 12,000-foot level and out of the storm, but he was refused because of heavy commerical traffic in the area." Source: 'Controller's Frantic Orders Noted in Report on Jet Crash - Martin Apparently Didn't Hear Warning,' Los Angeles Times, June 12, 1987
Other Comments:
Note: To date any medals or awards Captain Martin received during his Air National Guard career or posthumously are unknown.
Dean Paul Martin "was born to performer Dean Martin and his second wife, Jeanne Biegger. Dean Paul was the fifth child of Dean Martin's seven children. As a youth Martin was encouraged toward a singing career. At age thirteen he joined Desi Arnaz Jr. and Billy Hinsche in the pop group Dino, Desi, & Billy, which had a few minor nationwide hits between 1965 and 1968, landing in the Top 30 twice.
Martin began to go by his given name Dean Paul instead of the nickname 'Dino' in his late teens. He became a successful tennis player (he competed in a junior competition at Wimbledon) and an actor. He co-starred with Ali MacGraw in the 1979 film Players, starring as a professional tennis player, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best New Star of the Year - Male.
He later starred in the TV series Misfits of Science which aired during the 1985-1986 television season. The series co- starred Courteney Cox...Martin was an avid pilot. He obtained his pilot's license at age 16..." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org
Captain Dean Paul Martin is buried at the Los Angeles National Cemetery, Section: 419 Row P Site 28. Source: U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca. 1775-2006, Ancestry.com
Aircraft/Missile Information
From Wikipedia: The F-4 Phantom was designed as a fleet defense fighter for the U.S. Navy, and first entered service in 1960. By 1963, it had been adopted by the U.S. Air Force for the fighter-bomber role. When production ended in 1981, 5,195 Phantom IIs had been built, making it the most numerous American supersonic military aircraft.[7] Until the advent of the F-15 Eagle, the F-4 also held a record for the longest continuous production with a run of 24 years. Innovations in the F-4 included an advanced pulse-doppler radar and extensive use of titanium in its airframe.[8] Despite the imposing dimensions and a maximum takeoff weight of over 60,000 pounds (27,000 kg),[9] the F-4 had a top speed of Mach 2.23 and an initial climb of over 41,000 ft per minute (210 m/s).[10] Shortly after its introduction, the Phantom set 15 world records,[11] including an absolute speed record of 1,606.342 mph (2,585.086 km/h), and an absolute altitude record of 98,557 ft (30,040 m).[12] Although set in 1959?1962, five of the speed records were not broken until 1975 when the F-15 Eagle came into service.[11] The F-4 could carry up to 18,650 pounds (8,480 kg) of weapons on nine external hardpoints, including air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, and unguided, guided, and nuclear bombs.[13] Since the F-8 Crusader was to be used for close combat, the F-4 was designed, like other interceptors of the day, without an internal cannon;[14] In a dogfight, the RIO or WSO (commonly called "backseater" or "pitter") assisted in spotting opposing fighters, visually as well as on radar. It became the primary fighter-bomber of both the Navy and Air Force by the end of the Vietnam War. Due to its distinctive appearance and widespread service with United States military and its allies, the F-4 is one of the best-known icons of the Cold War. It served in the Vietnam War and Arab?Israeli conflicts, with American F-4 crews achieving 277 aerial victories in South East Asia and completing countless ground attack sorties.[15] The F-4 Phantom has the distinction of being the last United States fighter to attain ace status in the 20th century. During the Vietnam War, the USAF had one pilot and two WSOs,[16] and the USN one pilot and one RIO,[17] become aces in air-to-air combat. It was also a capable tactical reconnaissance and Wild Weasel (suppression of enemy air defenses) platform, seeing action as late as 1991, during Operation Desert Storm.[4][5] The F-4 Phantom II was also the only aircraft used by both of the USA's flight demonstration teams.[18] The USAF Thunderbirds (F-4E) and the USN Blue Angels (F-4J) both switched to the Phantom for the 1969 season; the Thunderbirds flew it for five seasons,[19] the Blue Angels for six.[20] The baseline performance of a Mach 2-class fighter with long range and a bomber-sized payload would be the template for the next generation of large and light/middle-weight fighters optimized for daylight air combat. The Phantom would be replaced by the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon in the U.S. Air Force. In the U.S. Navy, it would be replaced by the F-14 Tomcat and the F/A-18 Hornet which revived the concept of a dual-role attack fighter.[21]
