PITTSFIELD, Mass. (AP) – Navy Blue Angels Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis was remembered in his hometown Friday as an ambitious young man whose long-held dream of becoming a pilot ended too soon. Davis, 32, was killed last week when the F/A-18 Hornet jet he piloted as a member of the Blue Angels team crashed.
during an air show in Beaufort, S.C.
About 200 people turned out in Pittsfield to honor him at a ceremony held on the steps of City Hall.
“Kevin was a young man of great purpose,” the Rev. Peter Gregory said. “This young man was so gifted and so full of the promise of many tomorrows.”
Davis grew up in Pittsfield and attended Pittsfield High School through his junior year. He graduated in 1992 from Reading Memorial High School after the family moved east when his father took the job of school superintendent in Somerville.
Madeline Hawboldt, a friend of Davis’ parents who attended the memorial service Friday, said Davis had always wanted to fly.
“He was really attached to what he was doing,” Hawboldt said. “He reached his dream, but he didn’t get to do it long enough.”
Davis will be buried at a cemetery on a Pensacola, Fla., military base in a private ceremony this weekend. Pittsfield officials said a memorial fund in his name will be established at Pittsfield High School.
Davis, whose Blue Angels nickname was “Kojak,” joined the Blue Angels in September 2005. This was his first year as a demonstration pilot.
Davis graduated with honors in 1996 from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., according to the Blue Angels’ Web site. In September that year, he entered officer candidate school at Naval Air Station in Pensacola.
He earned “Top Stick” status in his class at Fighter Squadron 101 at Naval Air Station Oceana, Va., while training in F-14 Tomcat jets. He flew missions supporting the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and graduated from Navy Flight Weapons School in 2004.
A safety committee is still investigating the cause of the crash.
AP-ES-04-27-07 1346EDT
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