CDR Joseph Kleefisch '76, USN was lost on May 17, 1995 when the F/A-18 Hornet he was piloting crashed in the mountains of northern New Mexico. Also killed in the crash was RADM James Prout, III '66, USN.
Commander Joseph G. Kleefisch was born in Sheboygan, WI on January 28, 1954. His family moved to Kohler in 1964, where he grew up. Joe participated in numerous youth activities, including Boy Scouts and Explorers, and was an altar boy at St. John's Catholic Church. In high school, he was active in drama, sang with the chorus, Madrigals, and glee clubs. He played drums for the junior, senior and jazz bands.
Joe was an exceptional athlete, earning 14 varsity letters in football, basketball, baseball and track. In his senior year, he was the basketball team's highest scorer and led his team to the state championship tournament. By the time Joe graduated from Kohler High School in 1972, he had garnered the American Legion Gold Award for athletic excellence and set several track and field records; his Wisconsin state high-jump record stood for many years.
Kleefisch entered the United States Naval Academy in 1972 and graduated in June 1976 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Oceanography and commission as an Ensign. He reported to NAS Pensacola in July 1976 for flight training and received his wings in December 1977 with orders to VA-122 at NAS Lemoore.
After completing Fleet Replacement training in the A-7E Corsair II, he reported to the VA-113 “Stingers" on board the USS Ranger (CV-61). He completed two cruises with the Stingers, one of them during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. Kleefisch cross-decked to the Stinger’s sister squadron, VA-25, for three months as a junior officer while he received his airwing LSO qualification.
In 1981, Commander Kleefisch returned to VT-26 at NAS Chase as an instructor pilot and later to Training Wing 3 as the Wing LSO. While stationed at Beeville, he earned his Masters Degree in Business Administration and Management from Webster University.
Commander Kleefisch reported to the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) in 1984 as assistant Air Operations Officer working with CVW-9. After his sea tour, Kleefisch returned to NAS Lemoore in 1986 as a member of the adversary squadron VA/VFA-127, as the Operations Officer during the squadron's move to NAS Fallon.
He returned to VA-122 as a replacement pilot in 1988 and later reported to the VA-146 “Blue Diamonds" as a department head. While assigned to the Blue Diamonds, he transitioned to the F/A-18 Hornet. In 1989 he reported to the Hornet FRS squadron, VFA-125, as the Operations Officer and served as an instructor pilot.
Kleefisch received orders to the Navy War College in 1991, where he received a Masters Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies and was selected for squadron command. He joined VFA-25, the "Fist of the Fleet” in November 1992 as Executive officer and assumed command in February 1994. VFA-25 deployed to the Persian Gulf aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) in 1994 with Airwing 14 (CVW-14), participating in Operation Southern Watch and winning several awards. CDR Kleefisch was an extremely popular commanding officer, well loved by both his enlisted troops and the ready room, with his leadership and airmanship serving as examples.
On May of 1995 Kleefisch and his boss, CAG CVW-14, planned to bring the commander of Carl Vinson’s battle group, Adm. James Prout, to St. Louis, MO to tour F/A-18 Hornet manufacturing facilities and gain insight into the Hornet’s operation. The admiral was a surface warfare officer and had never flown in a tactical jet. On May 17, 1995 Kleefisch flew a two-seat F/A-18D (Bu#163492) borrowed from VFA-125 and picked up ADM Prout at Naval Air Station Miramar. CAG flew alongside them in a VFA-25 jet. The pair planned a series of low level training routes through northern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado en route to St. Louis. The weather deteriorated with snow showers, however, and 45 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico they performed a low altitude abort, taking separate headings and rapidly climbing to escape the cloud cover. CAG found blue skies above 15,000ft, but Kleefisch and Prout never emerged. They crashed into a 9,700 ft tall mountain obscured in clouds while in a very shallow descent, entered after they leveled off briefly within the cloud layer. There was disagreement as to why this occurred.
Aviation physiologists and flight surgeons claimed vertigo/disorientation as the cause, but seasoned aviators believed he attempted to engage the autopilot to allow retrieval of navigation materials and the autopilot had either disengaged without his notice, or had not been properly engaged in the first place. Kleefisch was only a couple weeks from his scheduled change of command at the time of his death, and had over 4,000 flight hours and 500 carrier landings.
CDR Kleefisch was married to the former Nancy “Nan” Aqnew of San Diego, Calif. The couple had two sons, Joseph and Matthew. Kleefisch was very active in the local community. Although frequently deployed at sea or away for military exercises, he nevertheless devoted numerous hours as a Cub Scout leader, foster father and coach for numerous youth league teams including soccer, baseball and basketball.
