In Memory of the Crew of Baron 52
Arlington National Cemetary, Washington, DC

U.S. Spy Aircraft Downed Over Laos

8 Crewmen Lost

By Michael Getler
Washington Post Staff Writer

An American EC-47 electronic intelligence gathering plane has been shot down over Laos while supporting continuing U.S. air strikes in that country against Communist forces.
The U.S. Air Force Pacific Command in Honolulu announced the loss yesterday, reporting the crew of the downed plane as missing in action. The command did not say how the plane went down or how many men were missing, but the Pentagon sources said the craft was brought down by enemy anti-aircraft fire. Such planes normally carry a crew of eight.
The downing represents the first announced loss of a U.S. plane in the Laos air action, which has continued for the past 13 days since the cease-fire affecting Vietnam was signed in Paris Jan. 27.
The loss will have the effect of adding to a U.S. missing-in-action list in Laos, which already has more than 300 names on it and which is a major source of concern for the Defense Department because the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces have only accounted thus far for about seven American military men lost in Laos.
It was also announced by the Pentagon yesterday that U.S. warplanes returned to the the attack in Cambodia for one day Thursday at the request of the Cambodian govenrment.

 The strikes by U.S. figher-bombers based in neighboring Thailand marked the first time the United States has carried out air attacks in Cambodia since Jan. 30 when the Lon Nol government announced a unilateral cease-fire in that country following the Vietnam cease-fire.
The Pentagon described the strikes as needed to counter a Communist attack north of the capital of Phe-nom Penh for which the Cambodian government has requested air support.
Pentagon spokesman Jerry W. Friedheim said the air strikes were not "a major effort," and at this point were an isolated incident which did not signal resumption of full-scale U.S. bombing in that country.
"We continue to hope and expect that a lasting cease-fire will be observed by both sides in Cambodia," he said.
At that same time, the Pentagon yesterday revealed officially that the continuing U.S. air war against Communist forces and supply areas in Laos involved an average of 280 individual flights a day by B-52 bombers and smaller tactical fighter-bombers.
Friedheim read a statement to the press from new Defense Secretary Elliot L. Richardson confirming the size of the U.S. air effort in Laos.


It was the first time in more than eight years of American air strikes in Laos and the rest of Southeast Asia that the Pentagon has provided any specific information on the level of effort being carried out in Laos.
Shortly after becoming Secretary of Defense, Richardson, under questioning by reporters, said he, too, was not clear why so little information was being made public about the Laotian operations, and he promised an answer.
But, while making public the average size of the U.S. airstrikes, the Richardson statement repeated the administration theme that a cease-fire was expected soon in Laos, that "intensive" and "sensitive" negotiations were under way, and that it would not serve a useful purpose to discuss basis in any detail.
Richardson said the raids, requested by the Royal Laotian government, were being carried out because North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces had simultaneously undertaken "major offensive actions in both north and south Laos" as negotiations got under way.








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