Kelly Francis Cook
Colonel
HQ SQDN, 366TH TAC FTR WING, 7TH AF United States Air Force Sioux City, Iowa May 02, 1922 to August 09, 1976 (Incident Date November 10, 1967) KELLY F COOK is on the Wall at Panel 29E, Line 65 |
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While doing some research for a book, I corresponded with Joanne J. Cook, widow of Kelly F. Cook. In the following exerpt, dated July 15, 1992, Mrs. Cook talks about her husband, who was truly a remarkable man: "Kelly's job at DaNang was to be Assistant Wing Operations Director, but since he had only been there six weeks, he was still flying to familiarize himself with the area and to test a plane. They had been having trouble with bomb fuses malfunctioning and had lost several pilots due to this. Lynda Twyman Paffrath ltpaffrath@sbcglobal.net |
Today, your name was seen on a traveling memorial.
Lisa Sawhill |
Notes from The Virtual WallOn the evening of 10 Nov 1967 two F-4C Phantoms of the 389th Tactical Fighter Squadron departed Danang Air Base for an MSQ-77 ground-radar-controlled bombing mission in North Vietnam. These missions were flown at relatively high altitude with delivery from level flight; the delivery aircraft was tracked by a high-definition ground radar (the MSQ-77 or TPQ-10), with the radar site computing the necessary release point and providing directional control. Shortly before weapons release the MSQ-77 generated a radio tone; the crew released their weapons when the tone stopped. The two aircraft, BAFFLE 01 and BAFFLE 02, were crewed by
Search and rescue efforts located the wreckage of both aircraft in the adjacent villages of Gia Ninh (BAFFLE 01) and Hong Thui (BAFFLE 02), about 15 miles southeast of Dong Hoi, but there were no signs of the two aircrews. All four men were classed as Missing in Action. Hanoi subsequently claimed that two F-4s were shot down by an all-female militia crew, and in 1993 US JTF-FA personnel were shown two 12.7mm heavy machine gun bullet casings purportedly from ammunition fired at the two aircraft. However, 12.7mm (.51 caliber) AAA fire could not have struck the aircraft at an altitude of 26,000 feet. Although Hanoi at the time reported the capture of "both bandits" (note that 4 crewmen were involved) no names were given and the four never showed up on POW lists. The POWs repatriated in 1973 had no knowledge of the four men. Over the years the Secretary of the Air Force approved Presumptive Findings of Death for Morgan (09/11/78), Huneycutt (01/03/79), Cook (08/09/76), and Crew (12/04/78). On 26 Sep 1989 the US Government announced the positive identification of Charles Huneycutt's remains from among those repatriated on 03 Nov 1988. The remains of the other three men have not been recovered. |
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