A former Air Force pilot who died in a plane crash in Cochise County last week was honored at a memorial at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base as a patriot and family man.
Walker Bowman, 49, was working for Raytheon Missile Systems when he died April 12 in a crash about 60 miles east of Tucson, in the Dragoon Mountains.
When he retired from the Air Force in September 2004, Bowman was a lieutenant colonel and the chief of safety for the 355th Wing at the Tucson base, in charge of safety and accident prevention and accident investigations.
At the height of his 22-year military career, he was 355th Operations Support Squadron Commander, a position that put him in charge of all air traffic control and airfield operations for the base, said Maj. Laurel Tingley, a D-M spokeswoman.
Bowman was married and had three children.
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"Walker Bowman was a warrior and patriot who loved his country, an airman and aviator who loved the Air Force, and a father and husband who deeply loved his family," said Col. Mark Koechle, 355th Operations Group commander. The base held a memorial for Bowman on Tuesday.
Bowman grew up in Illinois and earned a bachelor of mechanical engineering degree at Cornell University. He then went to officer training school at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and earned a master's degree in aeronautical science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Bowman was a command pilot who had flown more than 3,000 hours in the A-10 Thunderbolt II attack jet. Tingley said his military decorations and awards included the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, the Combat Readiness Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.
More information about the crash that claimed Bowman's life was made public Friday.
He'd left from Tucson International Airport at 2:38 p.m., but did not file a flight plan. He was supposed to take a three-hour flight in a Raytheon-owned Velocity XL-RG plane around the Tombstone Military Operations Area to complete a test that included standard banks and maneuvers, according to a preliminary investigation report released by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Raytheon recently had purchased the plane and had outfitted it with recording devices to gather aerodynamics data, according to the report.
Witnesses said they heard the engine sputter and saw a column of smoke a few minutes afterward.
