| Date: 24 December 1968 |
| Aircraft type: F-105D Thunderchief |
| Serial Number: 62-4234 |
| Military Unit: 354 TFS, 355 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Takhli |
| Name(s): |
| Maj Charles Richard Brownlee (KIA) |
| The loss of a Thunderchief and its pilot during a Steel Tiger strike in southern Laos resulted in a sequence of events that also led to the death of a PJ. Maj Brownlee’s flight was attacking trucks on a road near Ban Topen near the Ban Karai Pass. His aircraft (call sign Panda 1) was hit by ground fire during the attack but he managed to fly a few miles to the west before ejecting near Ban Paphilang. Maj Brownlee spoke to his wingman on his emergency radio and reported that he was injured. As it was getting dark Brownlee was told to take cover for the night and expect a rescue attempt at first light. At dawn on Christmas Day a HH-3E flown by Maj Reinhart from Detachment 1 of the 40th ARRS arrived on the scene and A1C Charles Douglas King, the PJ, was lowered about 100 feet to the ground. He found Maj Brownlee hanging in his parachute suspended from tree branches but A1C King freed him from his parachute and fastened the pilot’s body to the jungle penetrator. Suddenly enemy troops closed in and started firing at King and the hovering helicopter. King told the helicopter pilot that he was hit and to move the helicopter away. The helicopter began to pull up but the cable snagged a tree and both A1C King and Maj Brownlee fell to the ground. The helicopter was hit in the cockpit and a fuel tank and had to leave the area with King and Brownlee still on the ground. A two-day search failed to find any trace of the missing men. According to a Laotian refugee who arrived in the USA in February 1986, A1C King had been captured and taken away in a truck but his eventual fate remains unknown although his identity papers were later seen on display in Hanoi’s Central Army Museum. A1C King was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross. Maj Brownlee’s aircraft was painted as ‘Sweet Thirza May’ during its time at Takhli. |
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