More detail on this person: John was killed
when the Air Force C-130 he was a passenger in
crashed near Indian Springs, Nevada. He was
assigned to the 160th Special Ops out of Fort
Campbell flying OH-6s. The C-130 on a night
training mission had two little birds with crews,
including John, on board and was attempting an
NVG approach when it crashed and burned. I was
not told what the actual cause of the accident
was. Seeking the exact date, I had not been able
to find a more specific date than listed by you or
the state of Washington where I believe he is
buried. A SSN trace again yielded the same
information. Today I was able to find the date of
the C-130 crash, 09-21-1981. This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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Date posted on this site:
04/13/2025
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John was a Cobra pilot in Viet Nam. He survived
being shot down by a B40 rocket. His front seater
did not. John was assigned as a Cobra pilot to D
Troop, 1/4 CAV, 1st ID upon his return from Viet
Nam in 1973, which is the last time I saw him.
He was an excellent pilot and the kind of person
you wanted to be with in good times and bad.
From: Greg Dunne MAJ, MSC (RET)
I was there the night John was killed, in the
C-130 behind his that crashed making an NVG
approach into Indian Springs. John had recently
been reassigned from Ft Lewis to Ft. Campbell to B
Co. TF 160. B Co, is the Little Bird Gun company.
Originally only six of us were qualified to fly
the AH-6B's, as they were designated, but we were
actively soliciting for others with gun and scout
time. The mission originated at Fairchild AFB in
Spokane, WA. At the time of the crash we had
flown via C-130 with two AH-6's aboard each C-130,
with 4 TF pilots and a whole bunch of Rangers. The
rest of the mission would take to long to cover
here, but the AF had their most senior NVG
qualified pilots flying the 130, including their
NVG SIP riding center seat. The early years of
Special Ops were still trial and error.
The approach was made without landing lights, and
the circuit breaker that automatically turns on
the inside lights when a hard landing happens had
been pulled. This was standard, because the
steeper attack angle for the approach...they
really had to stick the landing on the short
strips.
Well, they landed too short, obviously, and the
plane literally burned to the ground. Thankfully,
the airframe broke on the left side and allowed
most all to escape. The Ranger Battalion
commander LTC William Powell, the HHC
commander, and several other Rangers were killed.
Our crew positions were inside our AH6 cockpits,
strapped in, and braced for impact. With our
helmets on, NVGs attached, the whip action
probably broke John's neck on impact. I knew
something was wrong when our C-130 began a
go-around and the inside lights came on. Only
thing I saw in the newspaper article was a
vertical fin sticking up out of the desert.
Tragic all around, and all hush hush, but during
those early days 1981, due to the high optempo, we
lost 26 crewmembers to accidents, wire strikes,
over water flight, etc.
From: Graham T. Stevens CW5, RET
More information regarding the C-130 crash with
John Williams. I was on board the aircraft the
night that it crashed.There were two little birds
on board, WO1 John Williams and CW2 Charlie
Wiegant were piloting one and myself and CW3
Papin the other. I was the only pilot not seated
in the cockpit at the time of the crash but rather
on the floor beside the aircraft. All I remember
was the loadmaster alerting everyone that we were
5 minutes out and to prepare for impact. Within
seconds of the 5 minute warning we hit the ground
and regained altitude and hit the ground a second
time with extreme force. I was one of the last
ones to get out of the aircraft as it burned and I
looked for Papin first then John and Charlie and
did not see or hear anyone. I believe Graham's
description of the events are extremely accurate,
the only addition would be that the cause of the
crash to my understanding was attributed to an
egine overspeed and prop seperation damaging the
controls. Also! I believe that John was buried in
Ozark Alabama,
From: CW2 Daniel L. Doyle B/229th - 160th
I too was onboard the C-130 that crashed at Indian
Springs
I was then a young captain_ the USAF Air Liaison
Officer (ALO) attached to the 2/27 Ranger Bn and
was sitting (in relation to the C-130) forward and
just a bit to the port side of the little birds.
There were no seats on the 130 because we were
all supposed to be able to get up and out quickly
upon landing. At the "5 Minute" call I knelt down
just about on centerline just forward of the wheel
wells and, as described earlier, felt the impact
as we hit, wheels down about a mile short of the
runway. I managed to get clear of the rubble with
a dislocated knee and exit the aircraft just
before it became fully involved with flame.
I was told that pilot error was the final result
of the investigation with the primary culprit
being the altimeter setting not being adjusted to
local upon descending below flight level 180
(above which the altimeters are all set to 29.92).
The story I was told was that there was a
resultant 300 foot error in what the altimeters
should have been reading and with NVG landings in
its infancy the aircrew just didn't recognize that
they were too low until it was too late.
From: Raymond "Buddy" Knox, Colonel (Ret),
USAF