| Date: 16 November 1968 |
| Aircraft type: O-1F Bird Dog |
| Serial Number: 57-2820 |
| Military Unit: 21 TASS, 504 TASG |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Nha Trang detached to Pleiku |
| Name(s): |
| Maj Carl Frederick Karst (KIA) |
| Capt Nguyen X Quy (VNAF) (KIA) |
| An O-1 failed to return to Pleiku from a visual reconnaissance mission about 20 miles to the southeast. When the aircraft (call sign Snug) became overdue a search was commenced but was called off three days later when nothing was found. A few months later a Vietnamese villager reported that he had heard from an NVA propaganda team that Maj Karst and his Vietnamese observer had been shot down by small arms fire. According to the North Vietnamese, Capt Quy had been killed and Maj Karst had been captured and then executed in a village in northern Phu Bon Province. The veracity of this story could not be checked but in December 1983 a Vietnamese refugee in Malaysia handed over two bone fragments and an identity tag bearing Maj Karst’s name. Again, it is known whether these artefacts were genuine or fake. However, in 1989 the Vietnamese turned over some human remains that were eventually identified as being those of Maj Karst. The Major’s remains were buried in Arlington National Cemetery in October 1993. |
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