PAVE LOW Flight Engineer
Tom Walkup
Thomas Alva Walkup Jr., SSgt
Tom Walkup (1978 – 2003) served as a PAVE LOW flight engineer and was lost in the line of duty on 23 November 2003.
- Rank
- SSgt
- Position
- Flight Engineer
- Born
- April 6th, 1978
- Died
- November 23rd, 2003
- Age
- 25
- Lost in the line of duty
- 23 November 2003MH-53M70-1625“BEATLE 12”
Tom Walkup of Millville, NJ, was killed on November 23, 2003 in Afghanistan when his MH-53M PAVE LOW helicopter crashed while conducting combat operations. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, grave site Section 60, Site 1821.
Tom’s family members include Parents, Patricia and Thomas Sr.; Sister, Susan Justis, and her daughter, Alyssa, 2, and is Tom’s godchild.
SSgt Walkup enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at 18, soon after graduating in 1996 from Millville High School in NJ where he played on the junior varsity baseball team. While station at Hurlburt Field, he was also a volunteer firefighter with the Holley-Navarre Fire Dept.
On 23 November 2003, Tom was participating in combat operations for Operation MOUNTAIN RESOLVE when it crashed nine miles east of Bagram Air Base.
A compressor stall in one of the two engines left the PAVE LOW with one engine operating and too much weight to carry in the thin mountain air. Tom unsuccessfully attempted to jettison the auxiliary fuel tanks, and shortly after the second engine stalled while attempting to land. With all power lost, the helicopter fell from an altitude of about 200 feet onto an uneven river bank, rolled over and burst into flames. Eight people somehow managed to survive. Three other crew members and one team member was killed in the crash.
Repatriation Video (opens in a new tab) | Fly Away Video (opens in a new tab)
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