8th Tactical Bomber Squadron, Phan Rang AB Thailand Tom Dugan and Fran McGouldrick are two men that America has forgotten about, but I haven't ...

 

The Mission On 13 December 1968 a C-123K PROVIDER of the 606th Special Operations Squadron launched from Nakhon Phanom RTAFB, Thailand, on a night FAC mission over the Ho Chi Minh Trail area. The low-and-slow C-123K's mission was to obtain visual or infrared sightings of traffic along the Trail and to act as a controller for bombers - in this case, B-57 CANBERRA bombers from the 8th Tactical Bomber Squadron, Phan Rang AB, SVN. Weather conditions along the Trail were good - clear with a half moon, ground fog, no wind and no cloud ceiling. At 0300 hours, as a B-57 was executing an attack against ground targets, the B-57 collided with the upper surface of the circling C-123K. Both aircraft - and nine aircrewmen - went down. Only one - 1st Lt Thomas M. Turner from the C-123 - was rescued. The others simply disappeared into the Laotian jungles about 30 miles southwest of the Ban Kari Pass. A ground search was impossible due to total enemy control of the area, but airborne search-and-rescue operations continued until the formal SAR effort was terminated on 15 December. At that point, the crewmen and their status were as follow: 606th SOS, C-123K call sign CANDLESTICK 44 1st Lt Thomas M. Turner, pilot, rescued; 1st Lt Joseph P. Fanning, co-pilot, MIA; 1st Lt John S. Albright, II, navigator, MIA; 1st Lt Morgan J. Donahue, navigator, MIA; Then-SSgt Douglas V. Dailey, flight engineer, MIA; TSgt Fred L. Clarke, loadmaster, MIA; and SSgt Samuel F. Walker, Jr., loadmaster, MIA. 8th Tactical Bomber Squadron, B-57B call sign YELLOWBIRD 72 Major Thomas W Dugan, pilot, MIA, and Major Francis J McGouldrick, bombardier, MIA. None of the men returned with other POWs in February 1973, nor did any of the released POWs have knowledge of the CANDLESTICK or YELLOWBIRD crewmen. As time passed, the Secretary of the Air Force approved Presumptive Findings of Death for the eight missing crewmen - including Major Thomas W. Dugan (20 July 1978).

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