| Date: 24 December 1965 |
| Aircraft type: AC-47D Gunship I |
| Serial Number: I 45-1120 |
| Military Unit: 4 ACS, 6250 CSG |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Tan Son Nhut |
| Name(s): |
| Maj Derrell Blackburn Jeffords (KIA) |
| 1Lt Dennis Lee Eilers (KIA) |
| Maj Joseph Christiano (KIA) |
| MSgt Larry C Thornton (KIA) |
| TSgt William Kevin Colwell (KIA) |
| SSgt Arden Keith Hassenger (KIA) |
| A few hours before the Christmas bombing halt was due to come into effect, an AC-47 gunship, call sign Spooky 21, took off from Da Nang for a daylight mission over southern Laos looking for targets of opportunity. When the aircraft was a few miles south of Ban Bac, a mayday call from Spooky 21 was heard by other aircraft in the area but there was no further radio contact with the gunship. No trace of the wreckage or crew was found at the time although unconfirmed reports suggested that Christiano and Hassenger were captured by the Pathet Lao after escaping from the aircraft. In 1995 a joint US/Laotian team investigated a site after villagers recalled seeing a twin-engined aircraft crash in December 1965. Subsequent excavations, the final one taking place in 2011, recovered human remains which were later identified as the entire crew of Spooky 21. The remains were buried as a group in a single coffin in Arlington National Cemetery on 9 July 2012. |
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