Plane enthusiast dies in freak accident
By Heather Ratcliffe
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
10/24/2006

Mark Birke never pursued a pilot's license because his wife worried
about his safety.

So he became an airplane enthusiast. He hung model jets in their
Webster Groves home. He named his dogs after planes. "Airplane" was
among his son's first words.

But even though Birke was grounded, his death was linked to his love of
aircraft. A car hit Birke on Thursday morning as he and a crowd of
tourists snapped photos of jets taking off from Eglin Air Force Base in
northwest Florida.

Birke, 31, who lost a leg in the impact, died at a hospital in
Pensacola, Fla., the next evening. The driver, an airman attached to
the 96th Medical Group at the base, also was killed. Another tourist
suffered minor injuries, officials said.
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Birke and his father, Charles Birke of Hazelwood, were visiting the
base with the F-4 Phantom II Society, an airplane enthusiast club. This
was the third year they pair had joined a similar tour.

Mark Birke, a purchasing specialist at a St. Louis steel company, first
learned about planes from his father, an aircraft mechanic for Boeing.
Mark Birke decided to join the club after his brother, David, who also
loved planes, died five years ago of cancer.

"He wanted a way to honor his brother and have something he could do
with his dad to keep him active," said his wife, Angela Birke.

Mark Birke drove to Florida with relatives for a vacation last week. He
left his wife and son in Tallahassee with family while he and his
father joined the Phantom convention, a five-hour drive away.

They were among 110 tourists who gathered at Tyndall Air Force Base
near Panama City for the convention. They rode in charter buses to
Eglin, near Fort Walton Beach, and were unloading near the airfield
when the accident happened about 9:40 a.m. Thursday.

Air Force officials say Brett A. Jakubowski, of Arvada, Colo., swerved
onto the grassy area where the tour group had gathered, plowing into
the two victims. His car returned to the roadway and crossed lanes into
oncoming traffic.

The airman then hit a fuel truck head-on, according to a release from
the air base.

Angela Birke said she would remember her husband as a clever, caring
man who was always creative.

"Our house is full of furniture he made. Whatever we needed, he just
created it," she said. "He could do anything with his hands."

The Birkes met at a St. Louis University High School mixer when they
were teenagers. They married five years ago. Their son, Miles, is 1.

"He never was happy unless he was making someone else happy," Angela
Birke said. "It's amazing how many people relied on him to make them
laugh."

Mark Birke enjoyed punk rock music, drawing cartoons and playing the
guitar for his son at bedtime. Angela Birke said she didn't want her
husband to become a pilot because his cousin had died in a plane crash.

"He could hear a jet and tell you what kind it was just from the
sound," she said. "But he never flew."
--
Gene Seibel
Tales of Flight - http://pad39a.com/gene/tales.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.