10 June 1969: The U.S. Air Force donated the first North American Aviation X-15, serial number 56-6670, to the Smithsonian Institution for display at the National Air and Space Museum. The first of three X-15A hypersonic research rocketplanes built by North American for the Air Force and the National Advisory Committee (NACA, the predecessor of NASA), 56-6670 made the first glide flight and
Lieutenant Colonel Williams entered the U.S. Air Force from West Virginia and served with the 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron. On March 18, 1968, he copiloted an F-100F Super Sabre (tail number 56-3784, call sign “Misty 43”) on a mission over North Vietnam. His aircraft crashed for unknown reasons, killing Lt Col Williams. His co-pilot ejected and was rescued.
Keith Williams was married at the time of the loss.
Williams’ remains were not recovered at the time. In 1991, a U.S. investigative team traveled to a crash site in Quang Binh Province, central Vietnam, and recovered human remains and personal effects correlating to this incident. They were able to identify Lt Col Williams from those remains.
He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery and is memorialized at Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial. Keith is also honored on the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington DC. His name is inscribed at VVM Wall, Panel 45e, Line 32.
Sources: Bio info/photo – HonorStates.org; POWnetwork.org; Findagrave.com
