Crash of a Lockheed OP-2E Neptune in Phou Louang: 9 killed

Date & Time: Jan 11, 1968 at 0957 LT
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Registration:
131436
Flight Phase:
Survivors:
No
Site:
MSN:
426-5317
Country:
Region:
Crew on board:
9
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
9
Circumstances:
The airplane was engaged in an acoustic buoy drop mission over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The last radio contact was recorded at 0957LT then contact was lost. SAR operations were conducted but the wreckage was found 12 days later only on the north side of a cliff, about 150 feet below the 4,583-foot ridge line. All nine crew members were killed.
Crew:
Cdr Delbert Austin Olson,
Lt(jg) Philip Paul Stevens,
Lt (jg) Denis Leon Anderson,
Lt (jg) Arthur Charles Buck,
P02 Donald Nellis Thoresen,
P02 Kenneth Harry Widon,
P02 Michael Land Roberts,
P02 Richard Michael Mancini,
P03 Gale Robert Siow.