Hi all,
Those of us from the 138th Aviation Company who are working on restoring a Beechcraft RU-21A for an outdoor memorial display got an email out of the blue this week. It seems that the first aircraft the 138th Aviation Company lost in Vietnam, a de Havilland U-6A Beaver, may have been found. Please read the amazing e-mail we received, and if you were in the 138th Aviation Company, in Vietnam or flew U-6A Beavers at this time, or have any familiarity to what US Army Fixed Wing Aircrews might have worn or carried in the aircraft circa 1966, please let us know so we can put you in touch with investigative team working to bring them home.
CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
CAVEAT: None
I am Alejandro/Alex Villalva, a Military Historian and Forensic Analyst of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), and a staff member of the DPAA Material Evidence (ME) Laboratory, located at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH.
My Lab conducts historical and scientific study of military apparel and equipment artifacts recovered from U.S. Military loss sites around the world (to include Southeast Asia), assisting in the National efforts to find, recover, and identify MIA/Unaccounted For U.S. Military personnel from past
conflicts.
I write to you as I am currently analyzing various Material Evidence artifacts that were recovered from the loss site associated with 138th Avn Co. Captain Harry Ravenna III, lost on 15 Nov 1966. Between 1992 and 2008, this site was searched and/or excavated in the hopes to find any Human Remains or Material Evidence to possibly identify and account for CPT Ravenna and his only passenger. From the historical record, it appears that Ravenna was on a Courier hop in the U-6.
CPT Ravenna (pilot) and USMC Corporal John C. Keiper (passenger) were flying in a U-6A aircraft on a routine mission from Dong Ha to Da Nang, when they encountered poor weather. Their aircraft struck a mountain in IFR conditions, and the overall evidence supports this outcome. For reference, the location of their loss site is 48Q ZC 19190 94763, which can be found online (link:
http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/coordin ... google-map… ).
Tragically, this crash site is located on a mountain ridgeline only about 3 KM from DaNang airfield.
My analytical work here will hopefully shed some light and answers into this 138 loss.
To this effect, my goal in contacting you is to possibly find some 138th Veterans who were with the Unit during the Nov 1966 timeframe, and who could assist me in describing the flight gear in use at this time (via an interview, and/or providing me photographs).
I did search your 138th website Gallery and found a few pics of interest, but most pertained to U-8 ops, and few with U-6 ops.
I thank you for any assistance you can provide me, and I welcome any inquiries or replies to me regarding this loss of CPT Ravenna and CPL Keiper.
Respectfully,
Alejandro/Alex Villalva
DPAA-WP
Dayton, OH