Name: Wlater Kosko
Rank/Branch: USAF, O3
Unit:
Date of Birth: 01 December 30
Home City of Record: Columbia, VA
Date of Loss: 27 July 65
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 210400N 1051800E
Status (in 1973): Missing
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F105D
Remarks:
Ejected-no beep voice srch neg-j
Other Personnel In Incident:
Source:
Compiled by THE P.O.W. NETWORK 02 February 93 from the following
published sources - POW/MIA's -- Report of the Select Committee on POW/MIA
Affairs United States Senate -- January 13, 1993. "The Senate Select
Committee staff has prepared case summaries for the priority cases that the
Administration is now investigating. These provide the facts about each
case, describe the circumstances under which the individual was lost, and
detail the information learned since the date of loss. Information in the
case summaries is limited to information from casualty files, does not
include any judgments by Committee staff, and attempts to relate essential
facts. The Committee acknowledges that POW/MIAs' primary next-of- kin know
their family members' cases in more comprehensive detail than summarized
here and recognizes the limitations that the report format imposes on these
summaries."
On July 27, 1965, Captain Kosko was the pilot of an F-105D, one in a flight of four aircraft from Takhli Air Base, Thailand, on a bombing mission over Phu Tho Province, North Vietnam. There was intense anti-aircraft fire directed at the flight. Following an explosion near his aircraft, Captain Kosko reported he was hit and there was smoke in his cockpit. He later ejected and other flight members observed a fully deployed chute and survival gear. There was no beeper or voice contact with him after his ejection.
Captain Kosko was seen to land in the Black River. A search of the river disclosed an inflated life raft which was empty and no evidence of the pilot. On July 27th and 28th, Radio Hanoi reported eight U.S. aircraft shot down on July 27, 1965 and stated that pilots had been taken into custody from shoot downs in Ha Tay Province. Captain Kosko landed on the border of Ha Tay and Vinh Phu.
Captain Kosko was initially declared missing. Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any information concerning his fate. In November 1977 he was declared dead/body not recovered, based on a presumptive finding of death.
U.S. investigators in Vietnam in 1988 and 1990 visited the area of Captain Kosko's loss. Vietnamese officials stated that Captain Kosko's life raft was recovered during the war. One witness stated it was used as a fishing boat in the local river until it deteriorated and was discarded. U.S. investigators were told Captain Kosko had indeed landed in the Black River, had never reappeared after going under water, and they believed he drowned in the river.
