Captain Robert Wilbur Smith 2 July 1944 – 17 April 1970 On 17 April 1970, Major Loel F. Rexroad and (then) Lieutenant Robert W. Smith were killed when their F-4 crashed in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam, during a Close Air Support mission. Both bodies were recovered. Lt. Smith was postumously promoted to Captain. View…
Major Loel Franklin Rexroad 5 September 1933 – 17 April 1970 On 17 April 1970, Major Loel F. Rexroad and Captain Robert W. Smith were killed when their F-4 crashed in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam, during a Close Air Support mission. Both bodies were recovered. View Major Rexroad’s page at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial…
LtCol Kenneth “Skip” Burns d. 9 June 2012 From the San Diego Union-Tribune on 15 June 2012: BURNS, KENNETH (SKIP) May 13, 1930 to June 9, 2012 Major General USAF (Ret), a longtime resident of San Antonio, TX, passed away peacefully following a long battle with COPD and leukemia. Raised in Chula Vista, Ken graduated…
Major Robert W. Storey d. 15 May 2012 Bob, 67, passed away May 15, 2012. He was born in Fairfield, AL on Oct. 14, 1944. He spent 28 years in the Air Force, including a tour in the 480th TFS at DaNang in 1967 and 1968. Husband of Sheila for 42 years; father of Jonathan,…
Captain Murray Lamar Wortham 26 May 1943 – 18 January 1977 On 30 December 1967, then 1st Lt. Murray L. Wortham, co-pilot; and then Major Smith Swords III, pilot; comprised the crew of an F4C, call sign “Flamingo 02,” that departed DaNang Airbase as the #2 aircraft in a flight of two. They were conducting…
Colonel Donald R. D’Amico d. 9 NOV 2011 Colonel D’Amico’s obituary from The Denver Post: “D’Amico, Colonel Donald Richard, 83, of Parker, CO passed away peacefully on November 9, 2011, after a long illness. Colonel D’Amico is survived by his loving wife of 55 years, Dora Bertoglio D’Amico, daughters Adrienne Southworth and Nancy D’Amico and…
Major Gordon Scott Wilson 3 June 1940 – 22 November 1966 Scotty Wilson was the best “stick” in the famous 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron. The 480th was famous because in November of 1966 a total of eight Mig-21s had been shot down by anyone anywhere and the 480th had five of them. On November 21, 1966…
Captain Richard Lee Whitteker 7 February 1939 – ???? On 27 March 1968, Captain Richard L. Whitteker and then 2nd Lt. James L. Badley, both of the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron, departed Danang Air Base on a strike mission (callsign Gunfighter 8) into North Vietnam. On the mission, Gunfighter 08 crashed. The target area was…
Colonel Bobby Gene Vinson 17 January 1928 – ???? On April 24, 1968, then LtCol Bobby G. Vinson (pilot) and then 1Lt Woodrow W. Parker (WSO) launched from Da Nang Airbase, South Vietnam, lead in a flight of two F-4D Phantoms on night strike mission against a storage area near Van Loc, some 10 miles…
Captain Richard Haven Van Dyke 24 January 1944 – ???? Richard Haven (Rich) Van Dyke entered Officer Training School (OTS), Medina Annex, Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas, on 22 May 1966 and was a Distinguished Graduate on 16 May 1966 with Class 66G. He then attended Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) at Williams AFB, Arizona, with Class…