"Gunfighter 61"

Rusch, Stephen Arthur
Air Force Captain

Stephen Arthur Rusch, age 28, from Lambertville, New Jersey.

Date of death: March 7, 1972
Death details: On June 26, 2007, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Captain Stephen Arthur Rusch, missing from the Vietnam War.

Captain Rusch entered the U.S. Air Force from New Jersey and was a member of the 389th Tactical Fighter Squadron. On March 7, 1972, he was the weapons systems officer aboard an F-4E Phantom II (tail number 69-7552, call sign “Gunfighter 61”) carrying one other crew member on an armed reconnaissance mission over southern Laos. During the mission, “Gunfighter 61” crashed and exploded, killing Capt Rusch. His remains could not be recovered at the time of his loss. In 1995, a joint U.S./Laotian team interviewed several Laotian citizens who led investigators to the Phantom’s crash site in Salavan Province, Laos; from 2002 to 2003, the joint teams conducted two excavations of the crash site that recovered human remains and related material evidence. Modern forensic techniques were eventually able to identify Capt Rusch among the remains recovered.

Sources: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Howell, Carter Avery
Air Force Captain

Carter Avery Howell, age 24, from Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cumberland county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, March 7, 1972

Parents: Berte Howell (1920-2012) and Alphonso Howell Jr.

Death details: On March 7, 1972, an F-4E Phantom II (tail number 69-7552, call sign “Gunfighter 61”) took off as the second of two aircraft on an armed reconnaissance mission over southern Laos. During the mission, the flight leader spotted two enemy trucks and cleared “Gunfighter 61” to attack them. The flight leader lost sight of “Gunfighter 61” as the latter began its second pass over the targets. A few moments later, the flight leader saw a large explosion nearby, in the vicinity of (GC) 48Q XC 720 744. He observed no parachutes in the area and “Gunfighter 61” failed to acknowledge radio transmissions. “Gunfighter 61” was not seen again and failed to return from the mission.  SAR forces conducted visual, electronic, and photoreconnaissance search efforts without finding either crewmember.  Later reports indicated there was heavy enemy fire in the area where it went missing. After the war, the remains of the Weapons System Officer were returned to U.S. custody and identified; however, the pilot remains unaccounted for.

First Lieutenant Carter Avery Howell, who joined the U.S. Air Force from North Carolina, was a member of the 4th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing, and was the pilot of “Gunfighter 61” when it went missing. He was lost with the aircraft, and his remains have not been recovered. Following the incident, the Air Force promoted 1st Lt Howell to the rank of Captain (Capt). Today, Captain Howell is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, findagrave.com, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Orangeburg South Carolina Times and Democrat 

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