| Date: 28 March 1968 |
| Aircraft type: RF-8G Crusader |
| Serial Number: 144616 |
| Military Unit: Detachment 14, VFP-63 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Ticonderoga |
| Name(s): |
| Lt Cdr Michael Walter Wallace (KIA) |
| An RF-8G Crusader was accompanying a formation of five Skyhawks on a Steel Tiger strike in southern Laos. The Crusader followed the Skyhawks as they rolled in on their target near Ban Tampank, 17 miles southeast of Khe Sanh. However, moments later the FAC pilot who was controlling the strike saw the Crusader (call sign Cork Tip) hit the ground in a tight spin. It was suspected that Lt Cdr Wallace had lost control of the aircraft as he tried to roll in with the Skyhawks which normally performed this manoeuvre at a much lower airspeed than was normal for a Crusader. However, there was also the possibility that the aircraft had been hit by ground fire. By 1988 Laotian-US relations were beginning to thaw a little. The US assisted a private humanitarian organisation to build medical clinics in Laos. In return Laos agreed to investigate a limited number of aircraft crash sites to recover human remains. One of the first sites visited was that of Lt Cdr Wallace’s Crusader. A joint US and Laotian team discovered the remains of Michael Wallace and returned them to the USA for burial in December 1988. |
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