The reason I asked the question was because that ship had been hot started several times at Dak toand was called in to the company and discussed with the service platoon leader. It was NOT grounded by him as it should have been and was supposed to be returning to Camp Holloway for repair. A MO was supposed to be flying it once it had been reported, not the crew, but they'd (the crew) been told by the Company to fly it back. No one passed the request to the 545th or I'd have had the ship in a recovery operation. In any case they diverted to the mission, with a ship known to have a bad engine. I asked Burger about it last year at the VHPA in Dallas and he said there was gun fire. I remember at the time bitching because a line crew was flying a ship that should have had an MO at the controls, but the MO evidently chose to tell the crew to fly it back. Had it been forwarded to me, I'd have gone to Dak To to get it like I always did. It damned sure should not have been on a mission. For 37 years I have altered between blaming the crew for flying it and then blaming the Service platoon leader for not grounding it, then going to get it hiself or at least bucking it to the 545 for recovery once it was reported. At the time, I remember being pissed off to the point that words were exchanged in operations and in the hootch area. One of the pilots was a classmate. The company insisted it was combat damage and I insisted it was engine failure. The nose tucking is consistant with engine failure. The fact that no evasive action or report from the crew calling recieving fire, makes me think it was an engine failure. The fact that it burned and I was not on the investigation still leaves a bad taste. In any case, god rest their souls and if that MO is still alive, he knows if he did right or not.
BT