| Date: 8 October 1967 |
| Aircraft type: E-1B Tracer |
| Serial Number: 148132 |
| Military Unit: Detachment 34, VAW-111 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Oriskany |
| Name(s): |
| Lt(jg) Andrew Gilbert Zissu (KWF) |
| Lt(jg) Norman Lee Roggow (KWF) |
| Lt(jg) Donald Findling Wolfe (KWF) |
| ATC Roland Robert Pineau (KWF) |
| JO3 Raul Antonio Guerra (KWF) |
| On the morning of the 8th an E-1B Tracer (call sign Sea Bat 700) AEW aircraft was launched from the Oriskany on a combat mission over the Gulf of Tonkin. The Tracer was often used to monitor strikes over North Vietnam and provide MiG warnings and other intelligence. Instead of landing back on board the Oriskany, Lt Zissu landed at Chu Lai and refuelled for another mission. On board the aircraft in addition to the normal crew was Seaman R A Guerra who was listed as a Journalist Petty Officer, Third Class. He was probably accompanying the mission in order to write a story for one of the official newspapers or newsletters that were produced in Southeast Asia during the war. The crew took off from Chu Lai in poor weather conditions and, as planned, flew towards Da Nang where the aircraft would then make straight for the Oriskany. Da Nang radar monitored the aircraft as it approached from Chu Lai but radar contact was lost as the aircraft approached the airfield. Radar contact was briefly re-established showing the aircraft about 10 miles northwest of Da Nang close to mountainous terrain. Sea Bat 700 was instructed to turn right immediately, which the crew acknowledged, but radio and radar contact was lost with the aircraft moments later. An extensive SAR mission was launched despite low cloud, poor visibility and driving rain. Three days later wreckage was spotted by a SAR helicopter crew on a cliff face on Monkey Mountain but the terrain was so difficult that it was not possible to reach the wreck site to recover the crew’s remains. There was no doubt that all the occupants had died instantly in the tragedy. In 1993 the Vietnamese government handed over boxes of human remains said to have been found in the area where the Tracer had crashed. Subsequently several investigations and excavations of the area of the crash site took place until 2007 when further remains were handed over by the Vietnamese. Forensic examinations of the remains took place and in 2007 were confirmed by the JPAC Central Identification Laboratory as being those of Lts Zissu, Roggow and Wolfe and of ATC Pineau. The remains of JO3 Guerra could not be identified at that time due to the lack of family reference DNA so it was not until February 2019 that his remains were eventually confirmed by using dental records, isotopic analysis and other evidence. |
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