| Date: 7 July 1967 |
| Aircraft type: B-52D Stratofortress |
| Serial Number: 56-0627 |
| Military Unit: 22 BW attached to 4133 BW(P) |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Andersen |
| Name(s): |
| Maj Gen William Joseph Crumm (KWF) |
| Maj Paul Andrew Avolese (KWF) |
| Capt David Fritz Bittenbender (KWF) |
| Capt John Suther (Survived) |
| Capt Wilcox Creeden (Survived) |
| 1Lt William Gabel (Survived) |
| SSgt Lynn Chase (Survived) |
| Aircraft type: B-52D Stratofortress |
| Serial Number: 56-0595 |
| Military Unit: 454 BW attached to 4133 BW(P) |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Andersen |
| Name(s): |
| Capt George Westbrook (Survived) |
| Capt Dean Thompson (Survived) |
| Capt Toki Endo (Survived) |
| Capt Charles Herman Blankenship (KWF) |
| 1Lt George Emerson Jones (KWF) |
| MSgt Olen Burke McLaughlin (KWF) |
| Ever since the Arc Light strikes had started in June 1965, the mighty B-52s had been restricted to bombing targets in South Vietnam until a strike on the Mu Gia Pass area of North Vietnam on 12 April 1967. Hitherto, the only B-52s that had been lost on Arc Light missions were the two aircraft that collided on the very first mission. Between then and 7 July 1967 the B-52 force had flown over 10,000 sorties and dropped over 190,000 tons of bombs without serious mishap. However, tragedy struck on the 7th when a formation of B-52s was approaching the coast of South Vietnam en route to a strike in the A Shau Valley near the DMZ. Two B-52Ds (call signs Red 1 and Red 2) collided 20 miles off the mouth of the Mekong Delta, about 65 miles south of Saigon, and both aircraft crashed into the sea. The cell of three aircraft approached their IP and had to make a steep turn to start their lengthy bomb run on the target. The leading aircraft and the number 2 aircraft in the cell collided during the turn. Following this accident the rules were changed allowing B-52s on Arc Light missions to fly a looser formation that increased the margin for error yet still retained cell integrity for mutual ECM protection. On board the lead aircraft was Maj Gen William J Crumm, the commander of SAC’s 3rd Air Division based at Andersen AFB on Guam and who controlled all SAC units in the theatre. Seven other men, including four from Maj Gen Crumm’s B-52, managed to escape from the aircraft and were rescued from the South China Sea by several helicopters including a HH-43F and two CH-3Cs from the 20th Helicopter Squadron. The B-52s on Guam were deployed from various wings, 56-0627 was detached from the 22nd BW at March AFB, California and 56-0595 was from the 454th BW at Columbus AFB, Mississippi. Maj Gen Crumm (together with Maj Gen Worley who was killed on 23 July 1968) was the highest-ranking airman to lose his life during the war in Southeast Asia and was scheduled to become the Director of Aerospace Programs at the Pentagon in August. He became commander of the 3rd Air Division on 16 July 1965 and had directed the B-52 Arc Light missions for all but the first month of the operation. Maj Gen Crumm had flown B-17s and B-29s in World War Two and B-47s and B-52s post war.
In 1993 and 1994 a joint US-Vietnamese investigation team interviewed a Vietnamese fisherman who claimed to have discovered the wreckage of a large aircraft under 100 feet of water. He had also recovered some bones from the wreck and handed these over to the team. In 1995 an extensive underwater search located the wreckage of at least one of the B-52s but found no more human remains. By the use of mitochondrial DNA analysis the bones were positively identified on 2 May 1997 as belonging to Capt Blankenship and 1Lt Jones. Another investigation in March 2020 found some items of life support equipment and human remains which were identified on 21 September the same year as being those of Maj Avolese, the radar navigator from 56-0627. |
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