| Date: 3 May 1973 |
| Aircraft type: EB-66E Destroyer |
| Serial Number: 54-0445 |
| Military Unit: 42 TEWS, 388 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Korat |
| Name(s): |
| no aircrew involved () |
| An EB-66E was undergoing maintenance at Korat when an accident almost cost the life of a ground engineer. The aircraft was having its engines run at full power when it suddenly moved forward and ran over the leg of TSgt William E Tompkins. The aircraft soon came to a stop in about 70 feet after it knocked down a concrete pole. TSgt Tompkins’s leg was severed just six inches below his hip joint but first aid administered by his colleague Sgt Lords before the medics arrived almost certainly saved his life. As the EB-66 was being phased out at this time, 54-0445 was written off and consigned to the fire dump for training. This was the 17th and last B-66 variant to be lost in Southeast Asia during the war. Four of the aircraft had been lost to SAMs, one to a MiG, one to an unknown cause and the remaining eleven in accidents. |
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