| Date: 17 September 1966 |
| Aircraft type: F-105D Thunderchief |
| Serial Number: 62-4280 |
| Military Unit: 469 TFS, 388 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Korat |
| Name(s): |
| Capt Darel Dean Leetun (KIA) |
| Aircraft type: F-105D Thunderchief |
| Serial Number: 61-0191 |
| Military Unit: 13 TFS, 388 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Korat |
| Name(s): |
| Capt Allen K Rutherford (Survived) |
| A strike on railway and road bridges near Kep claimed two more Thunderchiefs. As the first flight approached the Cao Nung road bridge, 17 miles northeast of Kep, at 9,000 feet, the leader’s aircraft (call sign Cleveland) was hit in the rear fuselage by AAA and crashed. No parachute was seen or SAR beeper heard and it was assumed that Capt Leetun may have been hit and incapacitated. Another member of the flight, Capt Mike Lanning, strayed into China due to battle damage to his navigation system and was fired on by Chinese MiG-19s but managed to escape. Thirty minutes later another flight of Thunderchiefs was approaching approximately the same location having already bombed a railway bridge when one of the aircraft (call sign Shotgun) was hit by 85mm AAA. Capt Rutherford headed towards the coast where he could eject with a better chance of being picked up. However, once over the coast the aircraft kept flying and Capt Rutherford headed south, probably hoping he might be able to reach Da Nang. Twenty-five miles off the coast near Hué the aircraft finally gave up its struggle to remain airborne and Capt Rutherford ejected and was rescued by a USAF HH-3E. The helicopter landed on the sea to make the first water pick-up by a Jolly Green Giant in combat.
Three investigations were made into Capt Leetun’s assumed crash site between 1991 and 1995. Human remains were found on a hillside during one of the investigations but it was not until 2005 that advances in the use of DNA testing led to the confirmation of the remains belonging to Capt Leetun. His remains were buried in Arlington National Cemetery on 8 July 2005. |
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