Mount Pinatubo, The Phillipines, Feb. 14, 1989
Biography of 1Lt. Josh Levin
July 6, 1958 – February 14, 1989
Josh graduated high school with honors in 1976. He then went on to study fluid and structural dynamics, magnetohydrodynamics, aeroelasticity and more at Caltech, Stanford and UCLA. He received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering (Summa Cum Laude) and an M.S. in Structural Dynamics, both in 1981. He then went to Stanford for his PH.D. in Fluid Dynamics. Among the honors and awards he received were the Caltech Prize Scholarship in 1976, Vertical Flight Foundation Scholarships in 1980 and 1981, and the Outstanding Master’s Candidate Award (School of Applied Science and Engineering, UCLA) in 1982.
He developed software for, and worked with, photometric and photographic observation of deep space objects as well as x-ray sources detected by satellite. Further, he developed a computational model for the behavior of an acoustic beam in a stratified medium at Poseidon Research and operated it at sea for the United States Navy. There were of course publications related to all of the above.
Though all of the above would satisfy most men, Josh then joined the USAF, rose to join the elite Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilots, and was flying the F-16 which in his words was, “the best fighter jet in the world, quite frankly, awesome!” He then became his squadron’s expert on electronic combat (radar and its counter measures, jamming pods, on-board radar systems, etc.). He made combat training videos used by the USAF. He wrote of his USAF involvements, “I love doing this like nothing else I can imagine!”
When the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing based in Kunsan, South Korea was on training exercises out of Clark Air Force Base near Manila, 1st Lt. Josh Levin “bought it”. On February 14, 1989 his F-16 crashed into Mount Pinatubo in the Philippine Islands.
He was mentioned in Scott O’Grady’s book, Return With Honor, “. . . was the worst, when Hanford's best friend in the world, a super talent named Josh Levin, ran into the side of a mountain during an exercise in the Philippines. It happened on Valentine's Day 1989 . . ."
Josh is truly missed by his family and friends. He was a dearly loved brother, son and friend and is remembered and missed daily.
Josh and a female attraction in an F-16, All pics by Ari Levin-Arroyo
