| Date: 22 May 1968 |
| Aircraft type: C-130A Hercules |
| Serial Number: 56-0477 |
| Military Unit: 41 TAS, 374 TAW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Naha, Okinawa |
| Name(s): |
| Lt Col William Henderson Mason (KIA) |
| Capt Thomas Barry Mitchell (KIA) |
| Maj Jerry Lee Chambers (KIA) |
| Capt William Thomas McPhail (KIA) |
| SSgt Calvin Charles Glover (KIA) |
| Sgt Gary Pate (KIA) |
| A1C John Quincy Adam (KIA) |
| A1C Thomas Edward Knebel (KIA) |
| A1C Melvin Douglas Rash (KIA) |
| The 41st TAS maintained a detachment of C-130s at Ubon for flare-dropping duties over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Known as Blind Bat, this detachment provided flare support and forward air control at night for the fast jets, A-26s and A-1s that operated over the Trail. The mission started at Da Nang in early 1965 under the 6315th Operations Group, with B-57 strike aircraft and Marine Corps EF-10Bs providing jamming support. The detachment moved to Ubon in March 1966. On the night of the 22nd one of the Blind Bat aircraft failed to return from a flare mission over southern Laos. It was determined that the aircraft was lost somewhere near Muang Nong, about 20 miles southwest of the A Shau Valley, where another aircraft had reported a large fire on the ground. In 1989 and 1991 identity documents belonging to Sgt Pate were reported to have been discovered. Extensive investigations after the war by US, Laotian and Vietnamese teams eventually led to the discovery of the crash site in 2008 and the recovery of human remains and personal effects. Through the use of mitochondrial DNA and dental analysis along with other material evidence the remains of all nine crew members were identified and were interred in a group burial in Arlington National Cemetery in June 2010. |
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