This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Greg Smith-Family
to remember
Austin, Charles David, Maj.
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Major Charles David Austin served with the 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter WIng out of Ubon RTAFB, Thailand. On 24 April 1967, Lt. Austin was serving as bombardier navigator onboard Major Herman L. Knapp's F-4C Phantom fighter/bomber. The aircraft was the lead in a flight of four dispatched from Ubon Airfield, Thailand on a strike mission over Vietnam. The strike was on a five-span bridge four miles north of the center of Hanoi. The raid's purpose was to sever North Vietnam's rail links with Communist China. An electrical transformer station seven miles north of Hanoi was also attacked. During the strike, Knapp and Austin's aircraft was struck by a flak burst, disintegrated, and two large pieces of flaming wreckage were seen to strike the ground in a fireball. No parachutes were seen and no beepers were heard.
This Veteran has an (IMO) In Memory Of Headstone in Hickok Cemetery, New Canaan, CT.: