Capt Fred Ochoa

Family discovers 1945 military plane crashed near Bluemont, VA

uncovers surprises, more clues sought...

​

On the evening of Friday, July 27, 1945, test pilot Marine Capt. Fred Charles Ochoa, 26, died in a plane crash approximately 5 miles southwest of Bluemont, VA. Ochoa was test piloting a new high performance twin-engine aircraft, the Grumman F7F Tigercat, making a night flight from Patuxent NAS to the Naval Air Station in Anacostia, MD. For seventy years, family members had understood the crash was near Patuxent, and that Ochoa lost instruments and crashed into the ground. When a curious niece and nephew started looking for more information about the crash, new information was discovered which has amazed all family members.

​

Capt. Fred Ochoa was the third born of eight sons of Luis and Rafaela Ochoa of Laredo, Texas. All eight sons served in the U.S. Military (3 Army, 2 Marines, 2 Navy, 1 Air Force), the oldest six serving at the same time during WWII. At 6’4” tall, Fred was among the tallest fighter pilots, and the tallest in his family. Growing up, he earned the nickname “Hungry”.

​

Claire Ochoa Weaver of Glen Allen, VA, a niece of Capt. Ochoa, inherited a rosary and a desk from her father; each piece had belonged to her grandmother. Her father told her the rosary had been in his mother's possession since 1945; it was sent to her after having been found with Capt. Ochoa at the crash scene. In 2015, tucked away inside the desk, Claire was surprised to find an old, worn envelope with a printed return address reading Navy Department, US Naval Station, Patuxent River, Maryland and with a handwritten name "Chaplain Carty".

​

She shared the found articles with her family, and her older brother Phil of Santa Rosa Valley, CA began contacting Loudoun and Clarke County government agencies, libraries, and the Patuxent NAS. Soon, Laura Christiansen of the Thomas Balch Library in Leesburg, Virginia provided the Ochoa family an archived newspaper account of the crash not seen before by family. The August 2nd 1945 edition of the Blue Ridge Herald weekly newspaper of Purcellville stated “The plane was reported to be on fire when it flew over Bloomfield...and crashed into the tree tops on the mountain side of the James Kelley farm”. This was a big discovery because it revealed both the location and a likely cause for the crash, which was apparently not instrument failure related.

​

Ms. Christiansen provided one more important reference, to the Friends of Bluemont, a historical society. When Phil Ochoa made contact, a Kelley family member was identified whose family had once owned the land where the 1945 crash happened. When contacted, Mr. J.J. Kelley said he was a young boy at the time and remembered going to the scene of the crash the next day. He agreed to meet with family members and soon Claire and her husband Kevin, her brother Phil and his son, Army Major Chase Ochoa flew into Leesburg on a warm Saturday in July, 2016.

​

Mr. Kelley and his wife Clara graciously escorted the family to the site and then described what he remembered happening more than 70 years ago. “At the time there were no homes in this area, this was farmland owned by our family, which was later sold.” “The crash happened over there” said Kelley as he pointed to a grove of locust trees which had their tops cut off by the plane. “The wreckage was scattered all in this area, which is foothills of heavy brush and trees now”.  The family lingered while Phil knocked on a few doors. Claire pulled out the heirloom rosary and commented that “it feels like we must be close”.

​

Shortly after the visit Ron Embrey, a homeowner in the area called and said he has for years found bits and pieces of an airplane, but never knew what kind it was, when it crashed, or why he was collecting the parts. A Vietnam veteran himself, he said “now I know - it is so we never forget, and we honor those who served”.  Phil remembers the emotions raised by that call, describing it as surreal.

​

On March 17 and 18, 2017, Fred’s youngest and only surviving sibling, Richard Ochoa & wife Marilyn traveled from El Paso, Texas, joinied approximately 20 Ochoa family members hailing from Texas, Arizona, Illinois, California, Washington state, and Virginia to a planned reunion in the Bluemont, Round Hill and Purcellville areas to meet with community members and hear their stories.

​

MORE INFORMATION SOUGHT:

If anyone, has any first or second-hand recollection or artifact relating to the night of July 27, 1945 and the days following, the Ochoa family asks you to please contact them by emailing CaptFredOchoa@gmail.com, or visiting the website https://captfredochoa.wixsite.com/honor

​

For more information call Claire Ochoa Weaver at (804) 539-6308 or Phil Ochoa at (805) 530- 3800