The Lockheed C130 Hercules aircraft was a multi-purpose propeller driven aircraft, and was used as transport, tanker, gunship, drone controller, airborne battlefield command and control center, weather reconnaissance craft, electronic reconnaissance platform; search, rescue and recovery craft.
One of the bases from which the C130 flew was Ubon, located in northeast Thailand. C130 crews from this base crossed Laos to their objective location.
The above listed personnel comprised the crew of a C-130 aircraft which departed Ubon Airfield, Thailand, at 1710 hours, 22 May 1968, on an operational mission over Laos. The last know radio contact with the crew was at 2055 hours, at which time the aircraft was located 52 miles southeast of Tchepone, Laos.
At 2125 hours, when calls to the aircraft were unanswered, two aircraft operating nearby were diverted to the area of last contact to investigate. A large ground fire was found but it could not be determined whether the fire was the result of a crashed aircraft. A photo reconnaissance aircraft was dispatched to the area and photographs were taken of the site.
The following day photographs were again taken; however, all photographs failed to reveal any evidence of an aircraft or survivors. Due to the fact that no sightings were made nor signals received which would have indicated the where abouts of the aircraft and crew, no further search was conducted.
From the Group 559 Document, it has been learned that the crew was on a Flare Mission, when they possibly where hit with AntiAircraft fire from a 37MM gun. It is believed that the aircraft was either hit in the wing or thru the cargo section, igniting the flares.
The nine members of the crew are among nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in Laos. Many are known to have been alive on the ground following their
shoot downs. Although the Pathet Lao publicly stated on several occasions that they held "tens of tens" of American prisoners, not one American held in Laos has ever been released. Laos did not participate in the Paris Peace accords ending American involvment in the war in 1973, and no treaty has ever been signed that would free the Americans held in Laos, and not one of
them has returned home.
William Mason was a 1946 graduate of West Point. Thomas Mitchell was a 1963 graduate of the Air Force Academy.
