04 Jun 1999 Undergraduate Pilot Training Class 69-01, Moody Air Force Base, remembers our fallen classmates. These men graduated from pilot training in 1968 but didn't come home from Vietnam and Laos in 1969 and 1970. Their pictures are from our pilot training yearbook. We will always remember them. Dave Bowling flew the C-7 Caribou with the 459th Tactical Airlift Squadron and is remembered at http://www.c-7acaribou.com. Fred Carter went into F-4 PHANTOMS with the 559th Tac Fighter Squadron. He and his crewmate, Wade A. Greer, are buried together in Arlington National Cemetery. Carl Churchill flew F-4s with the 497th Tactical Fighter Squadron out of Ubon RTAFB in southeast Thailand. He and and his crewmate, LtCol Lawrence Y. Conaway, were shot down on 03 May 1970 northeast of the Plaine des Jarres in Laos. They haven't come home yet. Jim Gilmore flew the O-2 with the 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron. Ron Knight flew EC-47s with the 361st Tactical EW Squadron and is remembered on the EC-47 site. The original memorial pages to these men are located at http://www.sjpc.org/pilots/upt6901.htm A memorial from , Alan Baker alanwbaker@yahoo.com

 

17 Nov 2002 Ron and I flew on the same crew until I rotated just a month before he died. I remember him as a bright, optimistic, personable, and very approachable young officer. He had a ready smile and an outgoing manner. I think of him often and an deeply saddened that he was unable to live out his life. God bless you, Ron. Lew Bird 16222 Monterey Lane #79, Huntington Beach, CA 92649 ClaudiaLew1999@aol.com

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall 1st Lt Knight was the pilot of "Prong 33", an EC-47P (tail number 43-49100) which was on a radio direction finding mission out of Phu Cat Air Base. After returning to base to have an inoperable navigational instrument fixed, the aircraft launched into marginal weather. Upon arrival in its operating area, the pilot in command determined that the weather conditions were unsafe and turned back toward Phu Cat. Prong 33 was given a radar-controlled approach to Phu Cat, but as the aircraft approached the airfield the crew reported an inverter fire and loss of directional and attitude instruments. Shortly after that call radio and radar contact with Prong 33 was lost. Bad weather hampered search and rescue operations and the wreckage was not located until four days later, 12 October 1969. Six aircrewmen died in the crash: 361st Tac Electronic Warfare Squadron, 460th TRW, 7TH AF 1st Lt Ronald H. Knight, Strawberry Plains, TN, pilot 1st Lt Max E. Rosen, Philadelphia, PA, copilot Capt Bradley R. Ransom, Barlow, KY, navigator TSgt Sylvester W. Redman, Petersburg, WV, flight engineer Det 1, 6994th Security Squadron, 7TH AF SSgt Elmore L. Hall, Savannah, GA, collection specialist Sgt Michael L. Stiglich, Troutville, VA, collection specialist More information is available on the EC-47 site .

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