| Date: 18 June 1972 |
| Aircraft type: AC-130A Gunship II |
| Serial Number: 55-0043 |
| Military Unit: 16 SOS, 8 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Ubon |
| Name(s): |
| Capt Paul Faris Gilbert (KIA) |
| Capt Robert Allan Wilson (KIA) |
| Capt Gordon Bocher (Survived) |
| Maj Gerald Francis Ayres (KIA) |
| Maj Robert Herman Harrison (KIA) |
| Capt Mark Giles Danielson (KIA) |
| 2Lt Robert Reid (Survived) |
| MSgt Jacob Edward Mercer (KIA) |
| TSgt Richard Milton Cole (KIA) |
| SSgt Donald Herman Klinke (KIA) |
| SSgt Larry Jerome Newman (KIA) |
| SSgt Richard E Nyhof (KIA) |
| Sgt Leon Andrew Hunt (KIA) |
| Sgt Stanley Lawrence Lehrke (KIA) |
| SSgt William B Patterson (Survived) |
| An AC-130A gunship (call sign Spectre 1) was operating over the border country about 25 miles southwest of Hué when it was shot down by an SA-7 missile. The first recorded SA-7 firing at an AC-130 took place on 5 May and the 16th SOS had been fortunate not to lose an aircraft to the SA-7 until this incident. Capt Paul Gilbert and his crew had taken off from Ubon for a patrol near the A Shau Valley. The missile hit the Number 3 engine and the wing was blown off moments later when a fuel tank exploded. At least three of the crew were able to escape from the aircraft by parachute and were rescued the next day by a HH-53C from the 37th ARRS. Since the war unconfirmed reports have circulated regarding the possibility that at least one of the 12 men listed as deceased actually survived the crash and was captured. However, as with so many uncorroborated reports, the possibility that anyone else had survived the crash appeared to be denied once and for all when the partial remains of 12 bodies were found at the crash site in 1993. Three members of the crew, Ayres, Danielson and Mercer, were identified individually by the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, the remainder were identified as group remains in a USAF announcement of 21 October 1994. The remains, consisting of around 300 pieces of bone and several teeth, were buried as a group in Arlington National Cemetery on 17 November 1994. Even so, several of the families of the deceased still contest the identification of the remains. |
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