Charles Glover

First to die

I had just arrived in Vietnam in August 1969. I was assigned to the MOREST crew at DaNang Airbase. We handled battle damaged aircraft and during the monsoon season most aircraft due to the high crown of the runway.

Stern-looking young soldier standing outside barracks.

Charles Glover in DaNang around September 1969.

I was outside our duty shack when a fellow marine said" look those planes are going to collide." Looking down at runway 17R, a airforce F4 was approaching the same runway as a Vietnamese c54 (i think) four engine passenger plane.

The Phantom collided with the commercial plane, taking off the outer left wing and one engine. The controller told the commercial pilot to make a right 360 and try to land. we watched as the pilot tried to porpoise his way around, but about 90 degrees in his turn he rolled over and nosed into the ground in a huge fireball.

My buddy Bradley turned to me and said, "You've just seen your first deaths in Vietnam." We "trapped" the phantom in our arresting gear moments later. I recall the huge aluminum sheet from the commercial plane wrapped around the wing tank of the jet.