Helicopter HH-3E 66-13287

Information on U.S. Air Force helicopter HH-3E tail number 66-13287
Date: 10/24/1970 MIA-POW file reference number: 1670
Incident number: 70102424.KIA
Unit: 21 SOS
Laos
UTM grid coordinates: WE720566 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48QWE720566)
Casualties = 04 KIA . . Number killed in accident = 0 . . Injured = 0 . . Passengers = 0
costing 0
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Reference Notes. Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Also: 1670, email from Lynne Schiele ()
Loss to Inventory and Helicopter was not recovered

Crew Members:
C MSG HEIDEMAN THOMAS EDWARD BNR
P CPT SCHIELE CRAIG BRIAN KIA
P MAJ KUNZ RONALD R
C SSG SPIVEY WALLACE

War Story:
I was Craig Scheile's roommate until I rotated out about 11 days before he went down. I flew a mission as lead to the same place Craig went down, with Craig as my wingman. His last mission would have been his second time to that location, and the first time to be the "low bird" (the one that drops off/picks up troops). From: Jerry Kibby, LtCol USAF (retired), 21st SOS Pilot Oct 1969-Oct 1970. Lynne Schiele, sister of CPT Schiele, summarized her research in an email to the VHPA in August, 2000. She stated that this aircraft was from the 21st SOS based at Nakhon Phanom RTAFB, Thailand and that it crashed in the MuGia Pass, Laos. Two Laotian soldiers perished in the crash along with the two USAF crew, but two USAF crewmember survived - a Major Ronald R. Kunz and a SSGT Wallace Spivey, Jr. She has been in touch with some of Schiele's flight school buddies and reviewed results from a 1995 site excavation report.

This record was last updated on 05/26/2006

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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023