The South Dakota Wing’s Lookout Mountain Composite Squadron held an open house and memorial service May 2 commemorating the death 30 years earlier of a Wisconsin man whose crashed aircraft was located after an extended search involving four Civil Air Patrol wings.
The Spearfish-based squadron hosted the family ofGene Sperber of Green Bay, whose aircraft crashed into a stock pond about 100 miles northeast of Spearfish. Sperber and Bill Christel died in the May 2, 1994, mishap.
Search teams from the South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming wings searched for 10 days before finally locating the wreckage in deep water with only part of the tail visible above the search. Bad weather was a major factor in the accident, authorities found.
After the search, Sperber’s family provided the squadron with a memorial marker and flagpole and also made a generous donation to the CAP cadet program.
Along with family members who returned to Spearfish to mark the anniversary, CAP search participants attended as well..
The wing “is dedicated to our search and rescue mission as well as … the cadet program,” said Lt. Col. Buck DeWeese, Lookout Mountain squadron deputy commander “They both work hand in hand in order to serve the people of South Dakota and visitors alike.”
