Air Force Officers MIA From Vietnam War are Identified

[darrels joy]

Air Force Officers MIA From Vietnam War are Identified


The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today the remains of two servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.


They are Col. James W. Lewis of Marshall, Texas, and Maj. Arthur D. Baker of San Antonio, Texas, both Air Force. Lewis is to be buried in Marshall on August 13, and Baker is to be buried in Longview, Texas on July 29.


On April 7, 1965, Lewis and Baker led a flight of four B-57B Canberra aircraft on an interdiction mission over Xiangkhoang Province, Laos. After their B-57 initiated an attack run into heavy clouds, Lewis radioed his plane was outbound away from the target. There was no further radio or visual contact with the crew, and search and rescue missions failed to yield any evidence of the two men or their aircraft. Although the cause of the crash is unknown, enemy fire and bad weather are believed to be contributing factors.


In July 1997, a joint U.S.-Lao People's Democratic Republic team
interviewed several witnesses, two of whom led the team to the crash site. Four excavations led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) from 2003 to 2004 yielded human remains and crew-related artifacts.


JPAC and Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab scientists used
mitochondrial DNA to identify the remains as those of Lewis and Baker.


Of the 88,000 Americans missing from all conflicts, 1,827 are from the Vietnam War, with 372 of those within the country of Laos. Another 756 Americans have been accounted for in Southeast Asia since the end of the Vietnam War. Of the Americans identified, 197 are from losses in Laos.

[BLUEHAWK]

I'm glad they got home...

B-57 Pilots and crew are having their annual reunion this coming September 9-12, in Dallas.

The B-57 was a very unusual aircraft... here's some of the story behind it:

"The Martin B-57 Canberra was a rare example of a foreign-designed (i.e. British) military aircraft being built under license by an American manufacturing company for use by the US armed forces. The last previous such example was the De Havilland DH-4 of World War I...

The first B-57 was manufactured in 1953, and the Air Force had accepted a total of 403 B-57s before production ended in early 1957. Overall, the B-57 was not easy to fly. Prior to modification of its longitudinal control and stabilizer systems, the B-57 was actually uncontrollable if one of its two engines were to fail during takeoff or landing. The number of B-57 accidents was rather high, but the accident rate actually compared favorably with that of the B-47 and some other aircraft...

The B-57 had its origin in the Korean War, which broke out on June 25, 1950. At that time, the only bombers that the USAF could commit to battle were types that were left over from World War 2. In particular, the only light bomber available was the Douglas B-26 Invader. The Invader had proven to be the only bomber suited to the night interdiction role in Korea. Unfortunately, the Invader was capable of visual-only operations and was available only in dwindling numbers. At the current attrition rate, it was projected that the B-26 fleet would be entirely gone by 1954. A modern replacement was urgently needed...

In pursuit of a B-26 replacement, on September 16, 1950 the USAF Board of Senior Officers issued a preliminary requirement for a light jet bomber with a service ceiling of 40,000 feet, a cruising speed of about 400 knots, a maximum speed of 550 knots and a range of 1000 nautical miles. The aircraft had to be capable of operating from unimproved airfields, had to be able to search for targets at low altitude and low speed, and had to be capable of destroying mobile or stationary targets at night or in bad weather with either conventional or nuclear weapons. The aircraft was also to be capable of performing the high-altitude reconnaissance role. The Air Force wanted the aircraft as soon as possible...

For a while, the XB-51 appeared to be the front runner in the contest, but the English Electric Canberra, a twin-jet three-seat bomber built in England soon emerged as an important contender...

It was envisaged that the aircraft would bomb by radar rather than visually, so the aircraft originally carried a crew of only two, with the pilot sitting to the left underneath a large and wide transparent one-piece canopy, and the navigator/radar operator sitting below and to the rear of the pilot. The bombing radar was to be housed in the forward part of the nose. The two crewmen entered the aircraft via a large door cut into the right side of the fuselage...

British bombers were traditionally named for cities. The name Canberra was chosen for the new bomber, in honor of the capital of Australia. This became official in January of 1950...

The Canberra had attracted the attention of the USAF almost from the date of its very first flight. A US mission had come to Boscombe Down in August of 1950 to take a look at the VN850 Canberra prototype. The USAF was sufficiently interested that they requested that a demonstration of the Canberra be carried out. Roland Beaumont, English Electric's chief test pilot, paid a visit to Burtonwood in Cheshire (the USAF facility responsible for the maintenance of USAF aircraft in Europe and the supply of USAF bases in the United Kingdom) in VX169, the second prototype B. Mk. 2 and carried out a flying demonstration on August 17, 1950. The American officers had an opportunity to inspect the aircraft at close quarters before Beaumont returned the aircraft to Warton. In September, a group of USAF test pilots visited Warton, and the pilots were given the opportunity to fly the Canberra. They were impressed with its performance. As a result of this flight, the USAF expressed a desire to evaluate the Canberra as a possible candidate for the replacement of the B-26 Invader...

Although the Board of Senior Officers generally favored the Canberra, the evaluation committee wanted to be certain that the Canberra would be made available to the USAF in sufficient numbers. They sent Lt. Gen. Kenneth B. Wolfe to the United Kingdom to obtain more information from the British about their ability to meet their own needs and at the same time to supply over 300 additional aircraft to the USAF to equip four bomb groups...

Although the British government was willing to supply the Canberra to the USAF, they candidly admitted that they could not make deliveries at a fast enough rate to satisfy both USAF and RAF needs. The only option would be for an American aircraft company to manufacture the Canberra under license in the USA. The Glenn L. Martin Company was approached with the proposal that it build the Canberra under license should the XB-51 lose out in the tactical bomber contest...

On December 21, 1951, WD932 lost a wing during a 4.8g maneuver at 10,000 feet over Centerville, Maryland, on the Delmarva Peninsula. Both crew members ejected, but one of them was killed when his parachute failed to open. An investigation later showed that the cause of the accident was an incorrect use of the fuel load, with the forward fuselage tanks having been used first, making the aircraft tail heavy and causing it to be longitudinally unstable and pitch up in a tight turn, overstressing the wings..."

[VIETNAM 1968]

Welcome home Col. James W. Lewis and Maj. Arthur D. Baker

May you both finally REST IN PEACE in your HOMELAND where you belong.

To all of my Vietnam Veteran Brothers and Sisters I again state:


WELCOME HOME:


VIETNAM 1968

[Jerry D]

Welcome Home fellow Airmen RIP and God Bless