| The Incident
On 20 September 1965, then
Capt. Edgar L. Hawkins was the pilot of the #2 aircraft in a
flight of two, call sign "Elm 2," that departed Korat Airbase on
a strike/armed reconnaissance mission, identifier "Rolling
Thunder 32C-4." Elm flight's intended target were a military
storage area and a bridge located in the extremely rugged
mountains approximately 6 miles north of the Vietnamese/Lao
border, 12 miles southwest of Bang Bang and 47 miles southeast of
Dien Bien Phu.
Further, this area of
northwestern North Vietnam was considered a major stronghold used
by the communists to move men and material by the North
Vietnamese throughout this region and into Northern Laos. While
sometimes no more than paths cut through jungle-covered
mountains, US forces used all assets available to stop the
communists from moving men and supplies throughout this
region.
At 1030 hours, the Elm flight
spotted the bridge and Capt. Hawkins followed Elm 1 in for a
rocket attack on it from a base leg altitude of 7,000 to 8,000
feet with a dive angle of 30 degrees. The flight leader saw Capt.
Hawkins' rocket fire, but could not be sure of his wingman's
altitude because of the recovery angle of his own aircraft. Elm 1
then observed Edgar Hawkins rotate for recovery as his aircraft
crossed the river and approached the mountain on the other side.
As he continued to watch Elm 2, Lead saw him clip the tops of
trees, throw up a stream of dirt and then explode as the
Thunderchief slid along the ground.
In his debriefing, the flight
leader said he did not see an ejection, but probably could not
have seen Capt. Hawkins eject in any event as he was at least 3
miles away at the time. The pilot of Elm 1 tried repeatedly to
raise the downed pilot on his emergency radio, but no voice
contact could be established. Likewise, no emergency beeper
signal was heard. By the time search and rescue (SAR) aircraft
arrived on station to conduct an electronic search, the weather
conditions had deteriorated to poor at best.
Because of the intense enemy
presence in the region, no close visual inspection of the
Thunderchief's crash site was possible. The Air Force believed
there were ample circumstances by which Edgar Hawkins was able to
safely eject and parachute into an area where capture could have
easily occurred. Because there was a reasonable change for
survival, Edgar Hawkins was immediately listed as Missing in
Action.
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