1969 — Oct 2, USN C-2A transport plane apparent engine failure/crash, Gulf of Tonkin– 26

–26 Blanchard estimate: In that we have located the names of only 26 fatalities, one such source
being the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DOD), we choose to show 26 fatalities.

–27 Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. USN Grumman C-2A Greyhound.
–27 c2greyhound.com. Never Forget….VRC-50, 1969 – Thursday 2 October 1969…
–26 AP. “Hoosier Sailor Among 26 Killed in Plane Crash.” Seymour Daily Tribune, IN. 10-4-1969, 12.
–26 AP. “Paratroopers Battle Enemy Close to DMZ.” Post-Crescent, Appleton, NM, 10-3-1969, A2.
–26 Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Personnel Profile. Service Member MM1 Paul Edwin Gore.
–26 Gero. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, pp. 102-103.

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network:
“Date: Thursday 2 October 1969
“Type: Grumman C-2A Greyhound
“Operator: United States Navy
“Registration: 152796
“MSN: 13
“Crew: Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
“Passengers: Fatalities: 21 / Occupants: 21
“Total: Fatalities: 27 / Occupants: 27
“Aircraft damage: Destroyed
….
“Location: 112 km (70 mls) NE off Dong Hoi, Vietnam [Gulf of Tonkin]
“Phase: Approach (APR)
“Nature: Military
“Departure airport: Luzon Island-Cubi Point NAS…Philippines
“Destination airport: USS Constellation
“Narrative:

“A C-2A greyhound transport plane was destroyed when it crashed into the sea near aircraft carrier USS Constellation. All six crew members and 21 passengers were killed.

The airplane operated on a personnel transportation flight from Cubi Point to USS Constellation. The aircraft carrier was on active duty during the Vietnam War at the time of the accident. The airplane came down about 16 km from the ship. It was suspected that the airplane struck the sea following an engine failure.”

c2greyhound.com. Never Forget:
“Crew: 6, Passengers: 21, Fatalities: 27 [While 6 crew are noted as fatalities, five are named.]

“LT Herbert H. Dilger; LT Richard A. Livingston, PO3 Paul K. Moser; PO3 Michael J. Tye and PO3 Rayford J. Hill
and twenty passengers:

“Terry L. Beck; Richard W. Bell; Michael L. Bowman; Frank Bytheway; Rolando C. Dayao; Donald C. Dean; Carl J. Ellerd; James J. Fowler; Roy G. Fowler; Leonardo M. Gan; Paul E. Gore; William D. Gorsuch; Delvin L. Kohler; Howard M. Koslosky; Robert B. Leonard; Ronald W. Montgomery; William R. Moore; Kenneth M. Prentice; Fidel G. Salazar; Keavin L. Terrell; Reynaldo R. Viado (all missing).

“The Greyhound departed Luzon Island-Cubi Point NAS (NCP), Philippines to fly to USS Constellation. A C-2A Greyhound was destroyed when it crashed into the sea near aircraft carrier USS Constellation. All six crew members and 21 passengers were killed. The airplane operated on a personnel transportation flight from Cubi Point to USS Constellation. The aircraft carrier was on active duty during the Vietnam War at the time of the accident. The airplane came down about 16 km from the ship. It was suspected that the airplane struck the sea following an engine failure.”
(VRC-50, 1969 – Thursday 2 October 1969 (USS Constellation CV-64).)

Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency: “On October 2, 1969, a C-2A Greyhound (bureau number 152796) carrying five crew members and twenty passengers took off on a routine logistics support flight from Cubi Point Naval Station, Republic of the Philippines, to the USS Constellation (CVA 64) in the Gulf of Tonkin. En route, the aircraft was in radio and radar contact with the carrier when it suddenly disappeared from the radar. There were no distress calls or beepers heard. An extensive air and surface search was begun immediately and recovered some personal effects and aircraft debris, but no survivors. Eventually, a crash site was discovered off the coast of North Vietnam, however, no remains were recovered….

“Service Members…Loss Showing 1 to 26 of 26 entries. [We add numbering.]

1. Beck; Terry Lee
2. Bell; Richard William
3. Bowman; Michael Lee
4. Bytheway; Frank L
5. Dayao; Rolando Cuevas
6. Dean; Donald Chester
7. Dilger; Herbert Hugh
8. Ellerd; Carl Joseph
9. Fowler; James Jewel
10. Fowler; Roy Gillman
11. Gan; Leonardo Medina
12. Gore; Paul Edwin
13. Gorsuch; William Dale
14. Hill; Rayford Jerome
15. Kohler; Devlin Lee
16. Koslosky; Howard Mark
17. Leonard: Robert Bruce
18. Livingston; Richard Allen
19. Montgomery; Ronald Wayne
20. Moore; William Ray
21. Moser; Paul Kierstead
22. Prentice; Kenneth Morton
23. Salazar; Fidel Garcia
24. Terrill; Keavin Lee
25. Tye; Michael James
26. Viado; Reynaldo Rocillo”

Gero:
“Date: 2 October 1969 (c.07:10)
“Location: Gulf of Tonkin
“Operator: US Navy
“Aircraft type: Grumman C-2A (152796)

“The twin-engine turboprop transport, which was bound for an aircraft carrier on station in the Tonkin Gulf from Subi Point [Cubi Point, Subi Bay], in the Philippines, went down less than 30 miles (50km) from the ship. Except for one passenger, who was an American civilian, the 26 men killed in the crash were US Navy personnel, including the crew. There were no survivors.

“Salvage operations went on for more than a month, but proved unsuccessful in locating the main wreckage due to the adverse and frequently hazardous environmental and weather conditions, and so the cause of the tragedy remained unknown. Of the possible causes, the one considered the most probable was a sudden and catastrophic power plant failure involving a reduction gear, a propeller or the engine truss (support). (Subsequent instrumented flight tests confirmed the truss and gearbox assemblies as primary failure suspects in the loss of 152796 and a previous, though far less serious, C-2 accident that occurred three months earlier.) Steps taken to prevent a recurrence of the suspected failure were the imposition of interim time limits on power plant components; certain operating restrictions; increasing the frequency of oil sample analyses; the establishment of balancing and post-flight propeller inspection criteria; a requirement for the identification of any existing weaknesses, evaluation of material conditions and corrections of all deficiencies noted, and re-design of the engine gearbox and mounting structure of the aircraft type to increase its strength as required to meet design limit sink rates and abnormal landing conditions. The US Navy grounded its C-2 fleet pending these corrective actions.”

Newspapers

Oct 3: “….In other developments, American spokesmen announced the appointment of a three-man panel headed by Capt. Lewis R. Hardy, deputy commander of Fleet Air, Western Pacific, to investigate the crash of a twin-engined Navy supply plane in the Gulf of Tonkin Thursday. A search by helicopters and destroyers found debris from the wreckage of the C2A Greyhound aircraft but no sign of its 21 passengers and five crewmen. The plane was on a flight from the Philippines to the carrier Constellation.” (Associated Press. “Paratroopers Battle Enemy Close to DMZ.” Post-Crescent, Appleton, NM, 10-3-1969, A2.)

Oct 8: “Washington (AP) – The Navy released Friday the names of 26 men killed in the C2A Greyhound aircraft crash in the Gulf of Tonkin Thursday. One civilian, Frank L. Bytheway, Dallas, Tex., an employe of a Navy contractor, was aboard, the Navy said.

“The plane was on a routine supply flight from the Naval Air Station at Cubi Point to the U.S.S. Constellation off Vietnam when it crashed….” (Associated Press. “2 Pennsylvania Sailors Killed in Air Crash.” The Courier-Express, Dubois, PA. 10-8-1969, p. 21.)

Sources

Associated Press. “2 Pennsylvania Sailors Killed in Air Crash.” The Courier-Express, Dubois, PA. 10-8-1969, p. 21. Accessed 3-23-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/dubois-courier-express-oct-08-1969-p-21/

Associated Press. “Hoosier Sailor Among 26 Killed in Plane Crash.” Seymour Daily Tribune, IN. 10-4-1969, p. 12. Accessed 3-23-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/seymour-daily-tribune-oct-04-1969-p-12/

Associated Press. “Paratroopers Battle Enemy Close to DMZ.” Post-Crescent, Appleton, NM, 10-3-1969, A2. Accessed 3-23-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/appleton-post-crescent-oct-03-1969-p-2/

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. “Thursday 2 October 1969. Grumman C-2A Greyhound. United States Navy.” Accessed 3-23-2022 at: https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19691002-0

c2greyhound.com. Never Forget….VRC-50, 1969 – Thursday 2 October 1969 (USS Constellation CV-64). Accessed 3-23-2022 at: https://www.c2greyhound.com/index.php/squadrons/14-vaw110firebirds/84-vaw110e2hawkeye

Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Personnel Profile. Service Member MM1 Paul Edwin Gore. Accessed 3-23-2022 at: https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000KZihEAG

Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. UK and Newbury Park, CA: Patrick Stephens Limited, an imprint of Hayes Publishing, 1999.