Pilot Killed When F-86 Jet Crashes At Show

An F-86 fighter jet crashed in a huge fireball before 50,000 people watching at an air show in a Denver suburb Sunday, killing the pilot, officials said.

The Korean War era SabreJet failed to pull out of a steep dive and plowed into the ground 300 yards from the nearest spectators at Air Show Colorado ‘97. No one was hurt on the ground.

“It was just a huge fireball, it went a couple of hundred feet in the air,” said Paul MacGregor, a radio talk show host who was watching the show.

The pilot was identified as Capt. Jack Morris Rosamond, 63, a retired United Airlines pilot who lived in Golden and often participated in air shows. He had 5,000 hours in the F-86.

The fighter climbed straight up, did a loop and then came straight down, MacGregor said. The jet crashed east of the crowd.

In 1948 the SabreJet became the first U.S. military jet to break the sound barrier.