A Small But Significant Pilot Grouping USN CDR USS Constellation KIA VIETNAM

Description: Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE This grouping consists primarily of a pair of pilot logs, miscellaneous small document items, and several documents acquired from the US Navy via two FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests. The name of the pilot is withheld from this listing out of respect. I found these pilot logs in about 2007, and after looking through them, I was surprised that the pilot, a Commander in the US Navy, as well as the co-pilot, a Lt (jg) was not listed on the Vietnam Veterans wall. I set out to find out why. In 2008, military aircraft accident reports were readily available via public sources, including online. This accident, however, was nowhere to be found and was missing from the various databases. This caused me to be even more interested, and I felt compelled to at least confirm that this great American had not been slighted. I filed the first FOIA request and was sent some very basic information that filled in some of the blanks, as well as answered the question of why this pilot was not listed on the wall. While the Carrier Group USS Constellation was officially enroute to Vietnam, when this accident occurred they were not yet in the theatre of war. So it seems that officially the pilot was not killed “in action”, but just during a training mission. This seems quite petty, but I suppose that it is the rule. This info did not explain why the crash had been scrubbed from public information. So, I filed a second FOIA request, and was given a slightly redacted copy of the accident report. After reading this report, I have some opinion on why this was considered a sensitive matter, but I will allow the next caretaker of the information draw their own conclusions.$20 covers expedited, insured shipping in CONUS.

Price: 950 USD

Location: Cary, North Carolina

End Time: 2025-01-10T00:56:43.000Z

Shipping Cost: 20 USD