Ronald Reitano - Finding the plane he fl to his death

[rp76226]

Ronald Reitano was a US Navy reserve test pilot who at age 26, ejected from his jet on July 9, 1957 and died when the parachute did not open. I am trying to determine what plane he was flying at the time of his death because my grandson wants to know. Here are the facts that I do know:

Ronald Francis Reitano DOB 03 FEB 1931 Pasadena CA

Military Service 13 JUL 1951-18 JUL 1957- died in plane crash over El Centro 9JUL 1957
Buried at Ft Rosecrans National Cemetary San Diego Section O Site 1394 From Newspaper: Dead Pilot Identified;From S. Diego A Naval reserve pilot who was killed Wednesday near El Centro CA was identified today as Lt.(jc) Ronald V. Reitano, 26. of San Diego, a member of Squadron VF 771 at Los Alamitos Naval Air Station.

Reitano was killed when his parachute apparently failed to open after he had ejected himself
from his jet fighter. He had been towing targets. * a * *
His body was found about 3.1 miles from the wreckage of the plane in a canyon about 50 miles northeast of El Centro. Reitano's squadron is undergoing two weeks' training at El Centro.

[Tessa78]

This site may offer some information/contacts. VP-771 Squadron

The first poster was in the reserves from 1949-1959 and served in VP-771 @ Los Alamitos.
He states that the VP-771 Squadron was flying "P2V-5 Neptunes"
http://www.vpnavy.org/vp771_shipmates.html

T.

[rp76226]

That site does not keep records on pilots.

[archimista]

The site Accident-Report.Com provides information about the procedures for accident reports:

http://www.accident-report.com/USN/nnames/usnr.html
http://www.accident-report.com/order.html

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