| Date: 3 June 1966 |
| Aircraft type: AC-47D Gunship I |
| Serial Number: 43-48925 |
| Military Unit: 4 ACS, 14 ACW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Nha Trang detached to Ubon |
| Name(s): |
| Maj Harding Eugene Smith (KIA) |
| Capt Theodore Eugene Kryszak (KIA) |
| 1Lt Russell Dean Martin (KIA) |
| TSgt Harold Eugene Mullins (KIA) |
| TSgt Luther Lee Rose (KIA) |
| SSgt Ervin Warren (KIA) |
| Three weeks after the loss of Maj Jensen’s gunship over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the 4th ACS lost another aircraft and crew while searching for convoys at night. Maj Smith’s aircraft (call sign Spooky 1) was part of a detachment at Ubon and was operating over Khammouane Province in the Laotian panhandle. Other aircraft in the vicinity saw the aircraft as it burst into flames and plunge into the ground near Ban Phakat. A subsequent search by a HH-3C located the aircraft’s wreckage but no trace of the crew was seen. Following the loss of this Spooky, the AC-47 was withdrawn from operations over the Trail as it was proving too vulnerable to ground fire. However, the aircraft continued to perform sterling work in the defence of hamlets and camps within South Vietnam.
The crash site of 43-48925 was located in 1995 and human remains were later recovered. In 2003 the remains the crew were positively identified and interred in a group burial in Arlington National Cemetery on 5 November 2004. |
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