Collins, Richard Frank
Navy Commander

Richard Frank Collins from Huntington, California, Los Angeles county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Saturday, November 22, 1969
Death details: On November 22, 1969, an A-6A Intruder (bureau number 155607, call sign Milestone 507) took off from the USS Ranger (CVA-61) carrying two crew members on a nighttime armed reconnaissance mission with one other aircraft, seeking targets of opportunity on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Savannakhet Province, Laos. The Intruder was flying in the lead position, ahead of its wingman aircraft. On approach to the target area, the wingman observed smoke from an explosion, and unsuccessfully attempted to make radio contact with the lead Intruder. Since the lead Intruder should have been well ahead and out of radio range by this time, the wingman decided the smoke was possibly from a secondary explosion in the target area. The lead Intruder was discovered to be missing only when the wingman aircraft returned to the ship. Aerial and electronic searches of the area failed to locate a crash site or the two missing crew members.

Commander Richard Frank Collins entered the U.S. Navy from California and was a member of Attack Squadron One Nine Six (ATKRON 196), Carrier Air Wing Two, embarked aboard the USS Ranger. He was the pilot of this Intruder and was lost with the aircraft. His remains were not recovered. Today, Commander Collins is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency