This Military Service Page was created/owned by
CMSgt Walter Kotzur (Walt)
to remember
Shorack, Theodore James, Jr., Maj.
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Major Theodore J Shorack and Captain Robert Ira Bush, both of the 602nd Fighter Squadron, were lost on 9 June 1966. Their A-1Es went down over North Vietnam while on a rescue mission of an F-105 pilot.. One parachute was seen after the collision, but no trace was ever found of either pilot. Their remains have not been repatriated.
He had been stationed in Japan in the early 1950s. He served with th 849th AC & W Squadron at Nagoya, Japan. Later, he served with the 303rd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 66th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Sembach, Germany and Laon, France flying the F-84 and F-101. He taught in the ROTC program at Hobart College in Geneva, New York beginning in 1961.
This Veteran has an (IMO) In Memory Of Headstone in Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial, Hawaii and another memorial in Willamette National Cemetery.
In the COIN role, T-28s saw extensive service during the Vietnam War in VNAF hands, as well as the Secret War in Laos. They were also supplied to Congo by the CIA to support Moise Tshombe's regime. France used locally remanufactured T-28s in close-support and patrol roles in Algeria. In the Philippines, T-28s, known locally as "Tora-toras", figured prominently in a series of coup de etats in the 1980s and were employed as dive bombers by rebel military forces. The T-28 Trojan was the first US attack fixed wing aircraft (non-transport type) lost in SOUTH Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. Capt. Robert L. Simpson, USAF, Detachment 2A, lst Air Commando Group, and Lt. Hoa, SVNAF, were shot down by ground fire on 28 August 1962 while flying Close Air Support (CAS). Neither crewman survived. The USAF lost 23 T-28s to all causes during the war, with the last two losses occurring in 1968. [2]
General characteristics
* Crew: Two * Length: 33 ft 0 in (10.06 m) * Wingspan: 40 ft 1 in (12.22 m) * Height: 12 ft 8 in (3.86 m) * Wing area: 268 ft� (24.9 m�) * Empty weight: 6,424 lb (2,914 kg) * Max takeoff weight: 8,500 lb (3,856 kg) * Powerplant: 1� Wright R-1820-86 Cyclone radial engine, 1,425 hp (1,063 kW)
Performance
* Maximum speed: 343 mph (552 km/h) * Service ceiling 35,500 ft (10,820 m)
