I'm doing research on Capt Frederick W Siebert, Jr, USAF. He was a front seater with the 559th TFS, 12th TFW out of Cam Ranh Bay in 1969. On the night of 1 Dec 1969, his F-4C (#63-7438) was downed around 7:30pm (local time) just north of Bu Prang and not far from the Cambodian border. Scrambled off the alert pad at CRAB, he was the lead aircraft in a flight of two flying in support of the SF at Bu Prang. Their target was a confirmed enemy location just north of the camp. When they arrived on station, the FAC was apparently out of flares and had the wingman roll in first to drop napalm. After 2-3 dry runs, Capt Siebert rolled in for his first bombing run when his plane was downed. No chutes were observed and no beepers heard, although a chute was later found with the remains in some wreckage two days later. US Army SF and CIDG troops recovered the remains and a Dustoff 47 Golf crew flew them back to Cam Ranh Bay.
I have many records about that night, including the declassified parts of the original SAR record (handwritten), but a FOIA request for other records was fruitless. I'm hoping to find someone - pilot from the 559th or other sqadrons, a FAC in the area, Shadow or Cobra crew, RTO, JRCC personnel, Dustoff 47 crew, troops on the ground, etc - who was there around 1 Dec - 3 Dec who may be able to shed more light on what happened during those few days.
Thank you!
Kallie Velazquez