Air Force officer from Newnan killed in plane crash in Africa

By Mike Morris

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An Air Force officer from Newnan was among four servicemen killed when their aircraft crashed in Africa, the Department of Defense said Monday.

Capt. Nicholas S. Whitlock, 29, of Newnan, Capt. Ryan P. Hall, 30 of Colorado Springs, Colo., 1st Lt. Justin J. Wilkens, 26, of Bend, Ore., and Senior Airman Julian S. Scholten, 26, of Upper Marlboro, Md., died Saturday when their U-28 aircraft went down near Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Africa.

Specialist Ryan Whitney of the 1st Special Operations Wing told The Associated Press that initial indications are that the plane, which was conducting an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission, did not crash because of hostile fire.

Whitlock was assigned to the 34th Special Operations Squadron based at Hurlburt Field, Fla.