Phu Bai Fire

I believe the picture is of the C-130 crash at Phu Bai one evening in February or March of 1968. I was down from Dong Ha for some reason or another and was visiting some friends in the MAG36 Crash Crew. we were sitting on the flightline in a crash truck when the C-130 came in too low and hit a bunker at the edge of the runway and just tumbled down the runway. We were first on the scene and tried to put foam on the fire but it was futile. Crash broke free some vehicles in the cargo area of the plane not giving the passengers much of a chance. the fire and all the ammunition cooking off made it impossible to rescue survivors. I believe 4 crew men in the front of the plane did survive. -Submitted by: Ted Zaydel [Tzaydel@AOL.com] 2008-03-26

i can't believe what I'm seeing. I watched the plane coming in 2 bunkers down from the bunker they hit. The plane had to shut off his lights because during Tet there was a black out at night.Gene Sturgeon and I watched and knew something was wrong, with his light off he could not see the bunker from what I remember the guys in the bunker were killed too. I felt bad because I could not go help the guys because I was not able to go from my guard duty. I'm glad you said 4 guys lived because I was told at sun rise all the guys died.Man I'm like shaking and kind of crying at remember this. -Submitted by: Jimmy Beckett [jimmybeckett@hotmail.com] 2009-11-03

I took this photo in the fall of 1967 prior to the TET offensive. The fire was caused by a grass fire that got to close to the Phu Bai ammo dump and up it went. Prior to learning that fact we were ordered into flight gear and to stand by to take off to defend the base. I took several photos of the incident as there was not much else to do while we waited for the go order. It was quite a show... Bob Houston Pilot VMO-3/HML-367 1967-1968 -Submitted by: Bob Houston [rhouston63@gmail.com] 2010-06-14