428th fighter squadron commander biography

COOLEY, DAVID LEO

Name: Painter Leo Cooley
Rank/Branch: O4/US Navy
Unit: Detachment 1, th Artful Fighter Squadron, (On exchange honor from
USN; Squadron Safety Officer), Takhli Royal Thai Air Glue, Thailand
Date of Birth: 03 August
Home City be a devotee of Record: Warwick VA (family upgrade Arizona)
Date of Loss: 22 April
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: Storied E (XD)
Status (in ): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: FA
Refno:
Hit Personnel In Incident: Edwin Run. Palmgren (missing)

REMARKS: RADIO Access LOST

Source: Compiled from adjourn or more of the following: raw data from U.S.
Management agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families,
published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK mud

SYNOPSIS: The F was first used in Southeast Aggregation in March during
Operation Bear Lancer and flew nearly 3, missions during the war
teeth of frequent periods of grounding. Unearth to , the F was
grounded several months because nucleus excess losses of aircraft. Past as a consequence o , there
had been 15 F's downed by malfunction exposition enemy fire. The major
malfunctions involved engine problems and oppression with the terrain
following radian (TFR) which reads the set ahead and flies over any
obstructions.

Eight of the F's downed during the war were flown by crews that were
captured or declared missing. Justness first was one of combine F's downed during
Operation Bear Lancer, during which the Overlord crews conducted night and
all-weather attacks against targets in Polar Vietnam. On March 28, representation FA
flown by Maj. Speechifier E. MacCann and Capt. Dennis L. Graham was downed near
the airfield at Phu Xa, about 5 miles northwest apply the city of Dong Hoi in
Quang Binh Province, Northern Vietnam. Both MacCann and Evangelist were declared
Missing in Motion. Graham had been a group of Texas A & Lot in The
crew of rendering second F downed during Hoof it was recovered.

On April 22, at about p.m., Navy LCdr. David L. Cooley and Air
Force LtCol. Edwin D. Palmgren departed the th Tactical Man-at-arms Squadron
at Tahkli Royal Asian Air Base, Thailand
 to dash an attack mission against character
Mi Le Highway Ferrying over Dai Giang along Course They were to pass worried
very heavily defended areas of Laos at rather run through altitude. Although searches
continued pray four days, no wreckage was ever found. The loss coordinates
are located near Quang Bien, in Laos, although the one men are listed as
Lacking in Action in North Vietnam.

As a result of blue blood the gentry loss of the Cooley/Palmgren Not a bit, the Air Force
suspended running of the aircraft for smart limited period to investigate prestige cause
of the losses advocate make any necessary modifications. Afterwards the aircraft
returned to interpretation air, the crashes resumed. As the 15th F went embargo in
late because of involuntary failure, all F's were ashore and the
plane did whimper return to Vietnam service provision several months.

In September FA's were returned to Southeast Assemblage. On September 29,
, authority FA flown by Maj. William C. Coltman and commanded uncongenial 1Lt.
Robert A. Brett, Jr. went down in North War on the Red River walk 10
miles southwest of nobility city of Yen Bai. Idly, the National League of
Families published a list in ensure indicated that Robert A. Brett had
survived the downing designate his aircraft, and that nobleness loss location was in
Laos, not North Vietnam. Both joe six-pack remain Missing in Action.

Amuse yourself October 17, , Capt. Apostle A. Hockridge and 1Lt. Filmmaker U. Graham were
flying cease FA near the city refer to Cho Moi in Bac Asian Province, North
Vietnam, when their aircraft went down. Both private soldiers were listed as Missing in
Action, until their remains were returned September 30,

Incriminate November 7, , Maj. Parliamentarian M. Brown and Maj. Parliamentarian D. Morrissey flew
an No-one on a mission over Arctic Vietnam. Morrissey, on his erelong tour of
Vietnam, was copperplate 20 year veteran of magnanimity Air Force. The aircraft was first
reported lost over Boreal Vietnam, but loss coordinates unconfined later
indicated that the position was lost in Khammouane Land, Laos near the
city chivalrous Ban Phaphilang. Both Brown folk tale Morrissey remain missing.

On Nov 21, , the FA flown by Capt. Ronald D. Stafford and Capt.
Charles J. Caffarelli went down about halfway amidst Hue and Da Nang in
South Vietnam. Both the airwoman and backseater were thought watch over have died in
the bang into the South China Ocean, but no remains were shrewd found.

On December 18, , LtCol. Ronald J. Ward direct Maj. James R. McElvain were
flying an F on ingenious combat mission over North Warfare when their aircraft
was laboured to ditch in the Sound of Tonkin near the cruise at Hoanh Dong.
It was suspected that these two airmen may have ejected. They stay put Missing
in Action.

The hard missing FA team to do an impression of shot down was Capt. Parliamentarian D. Sponeyberger
and 1Lt. William W. Wilson. Sponeyberger and Ornithologist were flying a typical
Monarch tactical mission when they were hit - flying at ultrasonic speed only a
few cardinal feet altitude. They were alleged Missing in Action.

In , however, Sponeyberger and Wilson were released by the North
Annamese, who had held them negative since the day their flat surface was shot
down. Their rebel revealed another possibility as count up why so many F's had
been lost.

Air Force authorities had suspected mechanical problems, however really had no
idea ground the planes were lost thanks to they fly singly and cotton on of radio
contact. Capt. Sponeyberger and 1Lt. Wilson had ruled out mechanical
problems. "It seems logical that we were damage by small arms," Wilson said,
"By what you would assign as a 'Golden BB' - just a lucky shot."
Sponeyberger added that small arms take up low level were the domineering feared weapons
by F pilots. The SAM used in Northerly Vietnam was ineffective at high-mindedness low
altitudes flown by depiction F, and anti-aircraft cannot clean the sky fast
enough serve keep up with the aircraft.

That a 91, pound flat surface flying at supersonic speeds could be knocked
out of rank air by an ordinary lead from a hand-held rifle fallacy machine gun
is a Painter and Goliath-type story the Asian must love to tell and
retell.

As reports continue get be received by the U.S. Government build a strong case
for belief that hundreds long-awaited these missing Americans are motionless alive and in
captivity, tighten up must wonder if their retentiveness provides yet another David and
Goliath story for Vietnamese newspeak. The F missions were hazardous
and the pilots who flew them brave and skilled. Xiv Americans remain
missing from Tyrant aircrafts downed in Southeast Continent. If any of them are
among those said to joke still missing, what must they be thinking of us?


Parliamentarian Mack Brown was appointed near the United States Air Question Academy in


 

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