| Date: 8 February 1969 |
| Aircraft type: F-100D Super Sabre |
| Serial Number: 55-3562 |
| Military Unit: 416 TFS, 37 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Phu Cat |
| Name(s): |
| Capt Thomas Edward Clark (KIA) |
| With the war in the North halted the North Vietnamese increased their defences on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and the USAF responded by flying more defence suppression sorties in southern Laos. A flight of Super Sabres was sent to destroy an anti-aircraft gun position near Ban Kapay, 25 miles west of the DMZ. Capt Clark’s aircraft (call sign Sun Valley 3) was hit by 23mm ground fire as he prepared to attack the target and he crashed before he was able to eject. A SAR mission failed to locate the aircraft’s crash site at the time. In 1992 a Joint US/Laotian team recovered aircraft wreckage from a crash site that was thought to be that of 55-3562 as some local villagers handed over human remains including two ID tags bearing Capt Clark’s name. In 2009 an excavation of the crash site recovered dental remains that helped to confirm the remains as being those of Capt Clark. |
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