Balcom, Ralph C. – KIA

“On 15 May 1966, then Captain Ralph C. Balcom was the pilot of the lead F105D (Serial #61-0174) in a flight of 5 conducting a morning armed reconnaissance mission over Quang Binh Province, North Vietnam. The mission area was known as Tally Ho and covered that section of North Vietnam bordered on the south by the demilitarized zone (DMZ), on the east by the coastline, on the west by the Laotian border, and on the north by an imaginary line drawn from the coast to the border 30 miles north of the DMZ.

When the flight arrived in the target area, Capt. Balcom established voice contact with the onsite Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center (ABCCC) to obtain current mission data. Due to low cloud cover over the primary target, the AFCCC directed Capt Balcom to have his flight drop their ordnance on Route 1A, the primary road running north/south just inland from the coastline, south of the major city of Dong Hoi.

At 0950 hours, Ralph Balcom transmitted that he had dropped his bombs and was heading for home. Other flight members saw his aircraft climbing for altitude toward the west before disappearing into the clouds approximately 10 miles southwest of Dong Hoi. During the return flight to Korat, another pilot in the flight reported hearing an emergency beeper signal for a short time emanating from the ground below, but there was no indication of who initiated the signal.

When no further voice contact could be established with Capt. Balcom and his aircraft failed to return to base by the time his Thud’s fuel would have been exhausted, the flight leader was declared overdue. A large-scale search and rescue (SAR) mission was immediately initiated.

An electronic and visual search was conducted in and around the area west and southwest of Dong Hoi, but it failed to produce any sign of the flight leader or his aircraft. Likewise, none of the aircrews participating in the search heard the beeper signal reported being heard earlier in the day. At the time the formal search operation was terminated. Ralph Balcom was declared Missing in Action. At the same time Capt. Balcom was declared missing, the loss location was determined to be in the area where he was last seen as his aircraft climbed into the cloud cover southwest of Dong Hoi, North Vietnam.

On an unknown date sometime after the loss, US intelligence intercepted a least one Pathet Lao radio broadcast reporting the downing of an F-105 on 15 May 1966 in the sector west of the Ban Karai Pass. Capt. Balcom’s Thunderchief was the only F-105 lost on that date.

After Operation Homecoming in 1973, a team from the Joint Personnel Resolution Center (JPRC) reviewed Ralph Balcom’s casualty record. After a thorough examination of his record, they recommended a correction in the country of loss be made from North Vietnam to Laos. Part of the basis for this conclusion and correction was due to the Pathet Lao broadcast. Further, the broadcast indicated that the Thud was downed in the rugged jungle-covered mountains that were heavily infested with NVA troops approximately 6 miles northwest of Route 912, 8 miles southwest of the Lao/North Vietnamese border, 10 miles due west of the Ban Karai Pass and 41 miles west-southwest of Dong Hoi.”

Source: TogetherWeServed.com