The Patriot Files Forums  

Go Back   The Patriot Files Forums > Veterans > POW/MIA

Post New Thread  Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 03-02-2020, 05:46 AM
Boats's Avatar
Boats Boats is offline
Senior Member
 

Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Sauk Village, IL
Posts: 21,784
Arrow The quest to recover one Vietnam-era Air Force pilot lost in Lake Huron crash

The quest to recover one Vietnam-era Air Force pilot lost in Lake Huron crash
By: Dylan Gresik - Military Times - 03-02-20
Re: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/y...e-huron-crash/

Photo link: https://www.armytimes.com/resizer/9R...KPTBGWLHCE.png
Newspaper clipping from The Times Herald of Port Huron, Michigan, from Tuesday, June 14, 1966, one day after U.S. Air Force Maj. William J. Vinopal crashed. Over 50 years later, a group of veterans aims to locate the wreckage of his F-106A fighter jet and identify his remains. (Courtesy of Donald Maury/Lake Huron Exploration)

On June 13, 1966, a young George Beebe, working on the roof of a hospital, swears he saw a powerless fighter jet gliding low over Lake Huron, a faint trail of smoke following. As it disappears out of his sight, Beebe scrambles to alert the nearby Coast Guard station about a potential downed aircraft.

Hours earlier, U.S. Air Force Maj. William J. Vinopal of the 71st Fighter Interceptor Squadron climbed into his Convair F-106A Delta Dart, a single-seat, flight interceptor aircraft, for a routine training mission over the lake.

It would turn out to be his last flight, and Beebe, a former Air Force jet engineer mechanic himself, may have been one of the last people to see the airman alive.

Now, over 50 years later, a group of veterans – including Beebe, now 85, and his nephew, John – are on a mission to locate the wreckage and recover Vinopal’s remains.

2nd photo link: https://www.armytimes.com/resizer/pe...OXEKD7WNRQ.png
Four Convair F-106A Delta Dart flight interceptor aircraft in flight. The fighter jet served as the U.S. military's primary plane to intercept attacking enemy aircraft for three decades. Maj. Vinopal piloted the jet as part of the 71st Fighter Interceptor Squadron out of Selfridge Air Force Base (now Selfridge Air National Guard Base) in Michigan. (Courtesy of the Air Mobility Command Museum)

“I could read the writing on his helmet and the four-inch numbers painted on his tail,” George Beebe told WDIV Local 4 in 2018. “We’re just bound and determined that we are going to find him. I just know he’s right here, close to home. All we have to do is find him.”

Along with his uncle George, John Beebe, 56, a retired Michigan Air National Guard technical sergeant, brought together a group of Air Force and Navy veterans, dubbed Lake Huron Exploration, to begin their search around Memorial Day 2017.

“Here’s a guy that never came back to his family, that’s been missing in our own backyard, Lake Huron, for over 50 years,” Beebe told Military Times. “He’s a fellow airman. We’d like to see him returned to his family.”

Vinopal, aged 36, of Mauston, Wisconsin, was a 13-year flying veteran when he took off from Selfridge Air Force Base, near Mount Clemens, Michigan, that June morning. The training exercise involved four other fighter jets and one practice enemy aircraft, a T-33 Shooting Star.

3rd photo link: https://www.armytimes.com/resizer/eX...PZTKYZVFE4.PNG
Maj. William J. Vinopal, aged 36, of Mauston, Wisconsin, was killed in a crash on June 13, 1966. The 13-year Air Force veteran was survived by his wife and three young children. Now, Lake Huron Exploration is searching to repatriate his lost remains. (Courtesy of Donald Maury/Lake Huron Exploration)

The pilot checked in with his target before officials lost contact with the jet flying at 3,000 feet around 1 p.m. local time, 50 nautical miles from Selfridge over lower Lake Huron.

Despite the presence of Coast Guard cutter Bramble, two helicopters and several Air Force planes, the downed aircraft could not be located, as the search was cut short due to heavy fog in the area.

The next day, small fragments of the plane were spotted, and “a pilot’s helmet pad and blue baseball cap, identified as belonging to Major Vinopal washed ashore 15 miles northeast of Port Huron, according to the official crash report.

On the third day, the search was called off.

Vinopal was assumed dead. He was survived by his wife, Mary Irene, and his three children, Kim, Craig and Kelly. The children were between the ages of nine and six when their father was killed.

4th photo link: https://www.armytimes.com/resizer/Gx...QO4VUZXTMI.PNG
Excerpt of U.S. Air Force accident report for Maj. William J. Vinopal, who crashed in southern Lake Huron on June 13, 1966, in his F-106A fighter jet. (Courtesy of Donald Maury/Lake Huron Exploration)

In the months following the crash, the Air Force hired Jon Lindbergh, the son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, who was also a former diver with the Navy’s Underwater Demolition Team. His search was also unsuccessful, and the cause of the accident remains unclear.

The current all-volunteer crew began their search with John Beebe’s sailing boat and simple, commercial fish-finding gear. After preliminary fundraising efforts, the team purchased a towable sonar device to better map the lake bed.

“I took all the data and figured out the unknown data. We plotted it on a nav chart,” said Donald Maury, a former Navy chief petty officer, who volunteers on the team as research director. “We are going in grids in the areas we suspect through our calculations and the last reports where the aircraft was located.”

News of the search was “hugely important” to the living members of the Vinopal family, Beebe said. “They were thrilled to hear that somebody was looking for their dad, that he wasn’t forgotten.”

5th photo link: https://www.armytimes.com/resizer/10...PEX3M2QYKQ.jpg
Newspaper clipping from The Times Herald of Port Huron, Michigan, from Thursday, June 16, 1966, announcing the unsuccessful conclusion of the search for Maj. William J. Vinopal's downed aircraft. (Courtesy of Donald Maury/Lake Huron Exploration)

Other members of the exploration crew include retired Air Force Lt. Col. Brian Leslie, who serves as the team’s engineer; Jeff Isabell, a former Navy aviation warfare systems operator and the team’s sonar expert; and retired Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Dave Howard.

They have since purchased a used diesel-engine boat, the Sonya Lee, to replace their sailboat and have created a new GoFundMe page to raise additional funds for a high performance underwater rover.

“The purpose for the ROV is that we can’t take divers out with us all the time,” Maury said. “The ROV, you can throw it in the water, get a quick visual. If it’s nothing, you can mark it off and move on.”

Locating the crash site has proven to be difficult, even with the team’s years of advanced military training.

Lake Huron itself covers over 23,000 square miles. While the group has narrowed down their area of operations to 660 square miles, it is still an enormous area to investigate.

6th photo link: https://www.armytimes.com/resizer/0a...2OY5OCX54.jpeg
The Lake Huron Exploration team's search area for the wreckage of Maj. William J. Vinopal, based off contemporaneous newspaper reports and Air Force flight records. (Courtesy of Donald Maury/Lake Huron Exploration)

The team of veterans, however, remains undeterred.

“We are just trying to bring a brother, a fellow veteran home,” Bebee said. “He was a great guy, serving his country, flying his F-106. And he went missing one day. We want to solve that mystery."

Should the crew locate the wreckage, they will investigate with divers to confirm the presence of Vinopal’s remains. If the remains are co-located with the jet, team members said they will defer to the family to either leave the airman undisturbed or allow the federal government to repatriate his remains.

“It’s just the issue of knowing that there’s a guy still out there somewhere. We are not trying to beat our chests. We are just quietly going about it,” Maury added. “It’s just to bring closure to the family. That’s all John [Beebe] did from the very beginning, and that’s everybody’s attitude on the crew.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Personal note: I feel confident they will find the aircraft and the Father of his children. We also thank their Father for his service to our country. May he be found and laid to rest so that closure can be made. Our respects to his family & friends.

Boats
__________________
Boats

O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
sendpm.gif Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

All times are GMT -7. The time now is 06:25 PM.


Powered by vBulletin, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.