MICHAEL WILLIAM McANDREWS
Unit: 18th Aviation Company, 223rd Aviation
Battalion, 1st Aviation Brigade
Date of Birth: 17 August 1948 (Kenosha WI)
Home City of Record: Ft. Lauderdale FL)
Date of Loss: 23 December 1970
Country of Loss: South Vietnam/Over Water
Loss Coordinates: 125821N 1092507E (CQ285345)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: U1A
Refno: 1684
Source: Compiled from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency
sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families,
published sources, interviews. Updated by the
P.O.W. NETWORK in 1998.
Other Personnel in Incident: Gary P. Booth; Bain
W. Wiseman (missing)
REMARKS: A/C BROKE UP - SAR NEG - J
SYNOPSIS: On December 23, 1970, WO1 Michael W.
McAndrews, aircraft commander; WO1 Bain W. Wiseman,
pilot; and SP4 Gary P. Booth, crew chief, were
flying a U1A "Otter" aircraft (tail number
55-3298), call sign Reliable 298, on a courier
mission over South Vietnam.
At 1845 hours, trained observers on the ground
reported seeing an aircraft, later determined to
be Reliable 298, break up in mid-air about 10
miles south of Tuy Hoa Air Base. Information
indicates that Reliable 298 may have been on fire
at the time it broke up. The observers reported
that the aircraft broke into two parts, and that
these parts crashed in the vicinity.
U.S. Army helicopters arrived shortly after the
incident and began an unsuccessful search for
survivors. Aerial searches the next day were
supplimented by ground searches along the nearby
beaches. While parts of the aircraft and
individual flight equipment were found along the
beach, no trace was found of survivors.
It was the opinion of the U.S. Army that the crew
of Reliable 298 died when it went down on December
23, 1970. Because no remains were found, all the
crew was listed among the nearly 2500 Americans
missing from the Vietnam war.
For others who are missing, determination of death
is not possible. Some of the missing were last seen
being led away by enemy troops. A few wrote home
from POW camps, but were not released at the end
of the war. Others were in radio contact with
search and rescue teams and advised them of their
imminent capture.
Since the war ended, thousands of reports have
accumulated indicating that hundreds of Americans
are still alive, captives of our long-ago enemy.
While the crew of Reliable 298 may not be among
them, their deaths have little meaning until this
war is completely ended - and all Americans come
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