30 November 1957 – Capt Benny Lacombe is killed when he unsuccessfully attempts to bail out of Lockheed U-2A, 56-6704, Article 371, 13 miles SE of Laughlin AFB. Ejection seats had not yet been fitted to U-2s at this point. The history of the U-2 program is fraught with fatalities and crashes. “CIA pilots Wilburn S.
Tom Clark graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1963, after having already spent two years at Penn State University. He was sometimes referred to as an “old man” at the Academy. He was interested in politics and flying and looked forward to a military career.
Nearly 6 years after his graduation, Tom Clark was flying a mission in Laos over the Ho Chi Minh Trail just northwest of the DMZ when his F-100D aircraft was shot down. Circumstances surrounding his crash indicate that the enemy probably knows his fate, but in 1973, Tom was not released with other POWs.
Major Clark’s remains were recovered and identified on June 29, 201, and he was repatriated on October 20, 2011. Major Clark is memorialized at Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial and is honored on the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington DC. Name inscribed at VVM Wall, Panel 33w, Line 84. He is also listed on the F-100 Super Sabre Plaque at the USAFA.
Sources: HonorStates.org; pownetwork.org; findagrave.com
