Angstadt, Ralph Harold
Air Force Lieutenant Colonel

Ralph Harold Angstadt from Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, Berks county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: October 18, 1966
Death details: On October 18, 1966, an HU-16B Albatross (tail number 51-7145, call sign “Crown Bravo”?) carrying seven crew members took off from Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam, on a search and rescue mission. Upon completing its mission, the Albatross radioed that it was returning to Da Nang from its position in the Gulf of Tonkin. This was the last contact made with the Albatross, and it failed to return to Da Nang. Search teams investigated the aircraft’s flight path, but found no sign of it or its crew. All seven of the Albatross?s crew members remain unaccounted for.

Major (Maj) Ralph Harold Angstadt, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Pennsylvania, was a member of the 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron. He was the aircraft commander aboard the Albatross when it went missing, and was lost with the aircraft. His remains were not recovered. Subsequent to the incident, and while carried in the status of missing in action (MIA), the U.S. Air Force promoted Maj Angstadt to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col). Today, Lt Col Angstadt is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives., Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency