SAN DIEGO (WTVO) — Five Marines, including 21-year-old Nathan Carlson, of Machesney Park, were killed after an Osprey aircraft crashed in the Southern California desert on Wednesday.
Carlson was one of the Marines on board, according to his uncle, Winnebago County Board member Keith McDonald.
The MV-22B Osprey was carrying five Marines when it went down at 12:25 p.m. Wednesday during training in a remote area in Imperial County near the community of Glamis, about 115 miles east of San Diego.
The aircraft was based at Camp Pendleton with Marine Aircraft Group 39 and was part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing headquartered at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, Maj. Mason Englehart, a spokesperson for the wing, said Wednesday.
The MV-22B is a twin-engine tiltrotor aircraft that can take off and land like a helicopter but transit as a turboprop aircraft.
Versions of the aircraft are flown by the Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force.
Carlson was a 2019 graduate of Harlem High School and was on the swim team.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.