Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: 4th Air Commando Squadron, Da Nang AB,
Date of Birth: 29 January 1937
Home City of Record: Winter Haven FL
Date of Loss: 13 March 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 154000N 1073000E (YC550450)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: AC47D
Other Personnel in Incident: Dean A. Duvall;
Howard W. Henninger; Edwin E. Morgan; Gene E.
Davis; Robert E. Pasekoff; Marshall I. Pauley
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project with
the assistance of one or more of the following:
raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published
sources, interviews: 01 January 1990. Updated by
REMARKS: NO RAD CNTCT - SRCH NEG - J
SYNOPSIS: Capt. Howard W. Henninger was the pilot
of an AC47D "Spooky" gunship. The Spooky had
evolved from the famed "Puff the Magic Dragon"
versions of the Douglas C47.
Puff introduced a new principle to air attack in
Vietnam. Troubled by difficulties in conducting
nighttime defense, Capt. Ronald Terry of the U.S.
Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division remembered
reading about flying missionaries in Latin America
who lowered baskets of supplies on a rope from a
tightly circling airplane. Throughout the series
of pylon turns, the basket remained suspended over
a selected point on the ground. Could this
principle be applied to fire from automatic
weapons? Tests proved it could, and could be
Puff's "flare kicker" illuminated the target,
then the pilot used a mark on the window to his
left as a gun sight and circled slowly as three
multibarrel 7-62mm machine guns fired 18,000
rounds per minute from the door and two windows in
the port side of the passenger compartment. The
aircraft was called "Puff" after a popular song of
the day, and because it resembled a dragon
overhead with flames billowing from its guns. Men
on the ground welcomed the presence of Puff and
the later Spooky version, which was essentially
the same as the Puff, because of its ability to
concentrate a heavy dose of defensive fire in a
surgically determined area.
Capt. Henninger's Spooky was assigned a mission
which took it over Quang Nam Province, South
Vietnam on March 13, 1966. His crew that day
Gerald E. Olson, Capt. Robert E. Pasekoff, Sgt.
Dean A. Duvall, SSgt. Gene E. Davis, SSgt.
Marshall I. Pauley, and TSgt. Edwin E. Morgan.
Duvall and Pauley were aerial gunners on the
Shortly after takeoff from Da Nang, the aircraft
was contacted by radio, and this was the last
contact had with Capt. Henninger's aircraft. The
area of loss is indicated as being about 10 miles
from the border of Laos in Quang Nam Province. All
crew members aboard were declared Missing in
Action. There is no way to determine whether the
enemy knows the fates of these men because the
U.S. Air Force is unsure of its area of loss.
Da Nang Regional Intelligence received a rallier's
report in 1969 which described a POW camp near
Hue. The report included a very detailed
description of the camp and two lists of Americans
held there. The lists were compiled by the source
viewing photographs of missing Americans, and were
classified "possible" and "positive". The source
selected Gerald E. Olson's photograph as possibly
being a man held at the camp near Hue. This report
was obtained from the U.S. government in the mid-
1980's by an interested citizen through the
Freedom of Information Act.
Although this report was later debunked by U.S.
intelligence analysts, and not distributed to the
families of the men named on the lists, at least
one former POW who was held at this camp was shown
the report and he confirmed some of the names on
the list and verified the accuracy of the camp
Since the war ended, nearly 10,000 reports have
been received by the U.S. related to Americans
still missing in Southeast Asia. Some are as
detailed as the one received at Da Nang in 1969,
and relate to many individuals.
Although most have been proven accurate, the public
attitude in the U.S. intelligence circles is that
the reports are meaningless. Yet, many of these
reports remain classified.
Was Gerald E. Olson captured? What of the rest of
the crew members? While the Vietnamese may have
the answers to these questions, we may never know
the extent of the knowledge of our own government
so long as information regarding these men is
allowed to remain classified.
Tragically, many who have seen this classified
information believe there are hundreds of Americans
still alive in captivity. Any of the men aboard
the Spooky lost on March 13, 1966 could be among
them. It's time we brought our men home. It's time
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