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Captain Michael Lee Carroll

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Captain Michael Lee Carroll Veteran

Birth
Brownwood, Brown County, Texas, USA
Death
28 Feb 1968 (aged 26)
At Sea
Burial
Plainsburg, Merced County, California, USA Add to Map
Memorial ID
View Source
In Memory of Michael L. Carroll, Captain, US Air Force

Captain Carroll's Boeing B-52F Stratofortress (tail number 70173, call sign "Meal 88") disappeared from radar contact at approximately 2304CST/0504Z on 28 Feb 1968 during a low-level training mission over the Gulf of Mexico. Because the aircraft and its crew of eight* were never recovered, the US Air Force crash investigation team's official finding was as follows: "The primary cause of B-52F 57-173 aircraft accident is undetermined due to lack of information and tangible evidence available as the aircraft is downed in an unknown location."

Captain Carroll was an experienced navigator assigned to the 7th Bomb Wing, 9th Bomb Squadron, Crew E-07 at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.

Captain Carroll's hometown was Brownwood, Texas. He left behind a wife and son.

MORS AB ALTO

* The other lost aircrew members were: Maj Frank M. Salavarria; Maj Philip F. Strine (EP); Capt Thomas D. Childs (ERN); Capt Charles W. Roberts (RN); Capt John T. Pantilla (EWO); 1Lt William T. Causey (CP); and MSgt Kermit C. Casey (AG)

Virtual Cemetery: USAF B-52F Stratofortress 70173, 28 Feb 1968

"Spaces between transmissions normally vacant during the day were cluttered with nightime radio sounds, foreign conversations and mysterious beeps. I was listening to the tape that contained the final transmissions of Meal 88 to the Matagorda RBS site--our only clue to the missing aircraft's fate."
-- McGill, E. (2012). Jet Age Man, SAC B-47 and B-52 Operations in the Early Cold War. West Midlands, England: Helion & Company
In Memory of Michael L. Carroll, Captain, US Air Force

Captain Carroll's Boeing B-52F Stratofortress (tail number 70173, call sign "Meal 88") disappeared from radar contact at approximately 2304CST/0504Z on 28 Feb 1968 during a low-level training mission over the Gulf of Mexico. Because the aircraft and its crew of eight* were never recovered, the US Air Force crash investigation team's official finding was as follows: "The primary cause of B-52F 57-173 aircraft accident is undetermined due to lack of information and tangible evidence available as the aircraft is downed in an unknown location."

Captain Carroll was an experienced navigator assigned to the 7th Bomb Wing, 9th Bomb Squadron, Crew E-07 at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.

Captain Carroll's hometown was Brownwood, Texas. He left behind a wife and son.

MORS AB ALTO

* The other lost aircrew members were: Maj Frank M. Salavarria; Maj Philip F. Strine (EP); Capt Thomas D. Childs (ERN); Capt Charles W. Roberts (RN); Capt John T. Pantilla (EWO); 1Lt William T. Causey (CP); and MSgt Kermit C. Casey (AG)

Virtual Cemetery: USAF B-52F Stratofortress 70173, 28 Feb 1968

"Spaces between transmissions normally vacant during the day were cluttered with nightime radio sounds, foreign conversations and mysterious beeps. I was listening to the tape that contained the final transmissions of Meal 88 to the Matagorda RBS site--our only clue to the missing aircraft's fate."
-- McGill, E. (2012). Jet Age Man, SAC B-47 and B-52 Operations in the Early Cold War. West Midlands, England: Helion & Company

Gravesite Details

The VA marker pictured is a cenotaph located at the Plainsburg Cemetery, Plainsburg, California. Captain Carroll's remains are resting somewhere on the seafloor offshore Matagorda Island, Texas with the other seven members of his missing B-52 crew.



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