Kelly C. Hinz
Profile
Age: 30
From: Woodbury, Minn.
Assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif. embarked aboard the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson
Incident: Marine Capt. Kelly C. Hinz was killed May 2 when the F/A-18 Hornet aircraft he was piloting crashed in Iraq while flying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Died: May 02, 2005
Minn. native killed in Iraq plane crash
By Amy Forliti
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — Before Capt. Kelly Hinz took his last flight with the Marine Corps, he sent his brother an e-mail with an important message.
“He wanted to make sure that we had flowers sent to his wife, Molly, for Mother’s Day, and some for Mom, because my dad always sent her flowers,” Hinz’s brother, Ben, said Thursday, choking up. “He was definitely devoted to his family.”
Hinz and another pilot died Monday when their single-seat F/A-18 Hornet jets collided over south-central Iraq, according to information from the family and authorities. The two men were based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.
Hinz, 30 had been living in San Diego with his wife, Molly, and their 7-month-old daughter, Abby.
Hinz’s death comes nearly one year after his father, former Navy pilot Donald Hinz, died when a World War II-era plane he was...