| Date: 20 October 1968 |
| Aircraft type: C-47D Skytrain |
| Serial Number: 45-0934 |
| Military Unit: 460 TRW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Tan Son Nhut |
| Name(s): |
| Lt Col Howard Elmer Van Vliet (KWF) |
| Lt Col Robert Brooks Richardson (KWF) |
| Lt Col Council Lee Royal (KWF) |
| Maj Gerald Eugene Burgener (KWF) |
| Maj Basil Lincoln Ciriello (KWF) |
| Maj Gerald Dean Ziehe (KWF) |
| Capt Gayland Omer Scott (KWF) |
| MSgt William Parker Bowman (KWF) |
| TSgt Donald William Bruck (KWF) |
| TSgt Billy Ray Morris (KWF) |
| TSgt John Derral Thomas (KWF) |
| SSgt Eugene William Hendricks (KWF) |
| 11 other passengers, names unknown (KWF) |
| Most wings and bases in South Vietnam and Thailand had a C-47 for communications flying at some time in the war. They were used to fly personnel between bases and sometimes to rest and recuperation centres, Bangkok and Hong Kong being particular favourites. In the early morning of the 20th the 460th TRW’s C-47 took off from Tan Son Nhut for a flight to Hong Kong with a refuelling stop at Da Nang. As the aircraft was flying over mountainous terrain near Ban Me Thout the pilot made a Mayday call saying that the No2 engine was overspeeding and the propeller could not be feathered. He requested vectors to the airfield at Ban Me Thuot but the aircraft crashed in poor weather and pre-dawn darkness. The wreckage was found about 20 miles south of Ban Me Thuot at an elevation of 2,300 feet and all 23 passengers and crew, including two US civilians, had been killed. Curiously, 12 of the occupants are listed as crew members on this flight. |
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