Even as a child, James Cronin dreamed of a life that would take him into the skies. At first he wanted to be an astronaut, but in time decided that the Air Force would be his ticket to the blue.
The family of Capt. James Cronin, 32, of Elk Grove Village, said he was doing what he loved when he died Thursday night. He was one of nine crewmembers flying a night training mission in Albania when the plane crashed, Air Force officials said. There were no survivors.
The aircraft, an MC-130H Combat Talon II, is designed to fly low to the ground and avoid radar, and officials said it struck a mountain about 35 miles southeast of Tirana, the Albanian capital.
Lt. Col. Eric Schnaible, an Air Force spokesman, said the investigation was still in its early stages and it would cover everything from weather to maintenance to the crew’s personal lives. A finding could take two to three months, he said.
Cronin graduated from Elk Grove High School in 1991. His mother, Roxanne Galli, said he joined the Air Force out of college. His ultimate ambition was to be a pilot, and he was working as a navigator at the time of the crash, she said.
Cronin was assigned to the 7th Special Operations Squadron, so he often couldn’t tell his family much about his career, Galli said.
“He used to say, `If I told you I’d have to kill you,’ and he’d laugh,” she said. “A lot of times we weren’t even allowed to know where he was stationed.”
His last posting was at Royal Air Force Station Mildenhall in England. The Albanian mission, meant to help that country’s military become a more professional force, was scheduled to last for two weeks, officials said.
“His family loved him very much and we’re all going to miss him greatly,” his mother said. “It’s like a piece of our lives went with him.”
Cronin was the fourth Elk Grove Village service member to die in the last year. Two Marines were killed in combat in Iraq, and an Army specialist died there last month when her vehicle overturned.
Air Force officials said Capt. Todd Bracy, 34, of Murphysboro, Ill., was also among the victims of Thursday’s crash. All will be remembered Wednesday at a memorial service at Mildenhall.
