STEVEN D. HERNING, ENS, USN
Steven Herning '79
Lucky Bag
From the 1979 Lucky Bag:
Steven D. Herning
Steve,
Well bud, there were a few times that I had my doubts about making it here. But you were pretty sure I was staying and that gave me encouragement. I’m sure you enjoyed all the people and places that happened into four years we roomed together. Freddy, Ma, Cro-Mag, Eggbert, Waz, Psychoba, George, Den, Larry, Sparky and Frank were always ready to have a good time and it was very rarely that we weren’t in the crowd. You can bet that I’ll remember ‘borrowing George’s Jensen,’ ‘drinking at Vorn Dicks,’ ‘watching some good rugby’ and all that “garring’ and ‘staffing out.’ We did enough of that didn’t we? Seriously bud, they were four good years and I can’t thank you enough for helping me out. I know that your career will be promising and your life rewarding. You gave the Academy your best and even if they reciprocated, you’ll still come out on top. Bueno Suerte, Compadre.
P.S. Your turn to make corn.
Jay
Steven D. Herning
Steve,
Well bud, there were a few times that I had my doubts about making it here. But you were pretty sure I was staying and that gave me encouragement. I’m sure you enjoyed all the people and places that happened into four years we roomed together. Freddy, Ma, Cro-Mag, Eggbert, Waz, Psychoba, George, Den, Larry, Sparky and Frank were always ready to have a good time and it was very rarely that we weren’t in the crowd. You can bet that I’ll remember ‘borrowing George’s Jensen,’ ‘drinking at Vorn Dicks,’ ‘watching some good rugby’ and all that “garring’ and ‘staffing out.’ We did enough of that didn’t we? Seriously bud, they were four good years and I can’t thank you enough for helping me out. I know that your career will be promising and your life rewarding. You gave the Academy your best and even if they reciprocated, you’ll still come out on top. Bueno Suerte, Compadre.
P.S. Your turn to make corn.
Jay
Loss
Steven was lost on November 21, 1979 when his TA-7C Corsair II had an engine failure at low level and crashed during simulated close air support training for troops in the field at Ft. Irwin. He was a Naval Flight Officer and member of Air Development Squadron (VX) 5. Steven was a special crew observer on the flight while awaiting naval aviator training.
From the China Lake Alumni Organization website:
LCdr. Peter "Pete" Leum and Ens. Steven D. Herning lost their lives when their VX-5 TA-7C Corsair II crashed while simulating close air support for troops in field training at Ft. Irwin. The chase plane/wingman was VX-5 CO Capt. Paul D. Stephenson flying VX-5 A-7E, XE-06, BuNo 160724. According to Capt. Stephenson and the accident investigation team XE-08 was about 100 ft. off the deck at 360 knots when the plane suffered a catastrophic engine failure and exploded in mid air, so fast that the wing-tips blew off and the plane inverted scattering wreckage and debris over a mile with the engine continuing another several hundred feet beyond the debris field.
The Aviation Safety Network website states "This incident was significant as it was determined that the combustion wall area of the TF-30A engine had worn thin and suffered complete material failure leading to the explosion...thus the TF-30 "B" model engine was born."
Other Information
Steven was from Las Vegas, Nevada, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery with his father, who was a Colonel in the US Air Force and who predeceased Steve by a year. He was survived by his mother.
Steven is one of 15 members of the Class of 1979 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
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