| Date: 24 November 1969 |
| Aircraft type: F-105D Thunderchief |
| Serial Number: 61-0060 |
| Military Unit: 357 TFS, 355 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Takhli |
| Name(s): |
| Capt James Blair White (KIA) |
| A flight of two F-105s was sent on a Barrel Roll mission to attack troop positions about five miles southwest of Ban Ban in northern Laos. Capt White was either shot down or flew into the ground in poor weather on his second pass and was not seen to eject from his aircraft (call sign Shark) before it hit the ground. Jim White was the brother of astronaut Lt Col Edward White who had flown in Gemini 4 in June 1965 and was one of three astronauts killed in the Apollo 204 capsule fire at Cape Canaveral on 27 January 1967. Jim had applied for the astronaut programme and was hoping to start training when he returned to the USA. Capt White’s crash site was excavated by joint US/Laotian teams between 2010 and 2016 and his remains were confirmed by DNA and medical evidence in June 2017. The remains were buried at West Point in June 2018. |
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