On July 16, 1962, CAPT William R. Bunker III, USAF, was a pilot from the 1173rd Special Activities Squadron, Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), was killed when a troop-laden Vietnamese air force transport C-47 caught fire and crashed on takeoff at Kontum airport, 260 miles northeast of Saigon, near a guerilla-infested region close to the Laos border. The crash killed 22 Vietnamese troopers. CAPT Bunker, the only American aboard, was assisting as a flight instructor. There were four survivors, all Vietnamese. [Chicago Daily Tribune, July 17, 1962]
On July 16, 1962, CAPT William R. Bunker III, USAF, was a pilot from the 1173rd Special Activities Squadron, Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), was killed when a troop-laden Vietnamese air force transport C-47 caught fire and crashed on takeoff at Kontum airport, 260 miles northeast of Saigon, near a guerilla-infested region close to the Laos border. The crash killed 22 Vietnamese troopers. CAPT Bunker, the only American aboard, was assisting as a flight instructor. There were four survivors, all Vietnamese. [Chicago Daily Tribune, July 17, 1962]
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