MOH - Col William Jones, III, Skyraider pilot

[Ken]

Was reading a little about William Jones who won the Medal of Honor for (in short) while injured, flying a heavily damaged Skyraider back to base and relaying the location of a downed F-4 crew before accepting medical attention. The mission was 1 Sep 68. Unfortunately, Col Jones was subsequently killed in a stateside aircraft accident and his wife accepted the MOH from the President.

I'd always heard that the aircraft he was flying that day was "The Proud American", which is the color scheme worn by the Anders' AD-4. I'd also heard that this tail was repaired and flew again, only to become the last USAF A-1 downed in Vietnam. (SA-7 IIRC). (An A-1 on display in Thailand has this name painted on the cowl, but it is not the original).

Can anyone shed any light on the accident that took his life? (15 Nov 69 according to Wikipedia).

Any details on the original "The Proud American"? Or the Warbird version?

Ken

[Robbie Stuart]

According to Air Force Magazine,
"On Nov. 14, 1969, President Nixon approved the award of the Medal of Honor to Jones. According to Lois Jones, her husband had “gotten wind” of it, but he did not live to receive the medal.

(:Although he did not consider himself a hero, he had planned what he was going to say: “I consider this great honor and high award to be a tribute not so much to me but to all Sandy pilots who have flown out of the 602nd. I’m honored to represent them in this manner.”)

Jones had recently been promoted to colonel, and a dinner party in celebration was planned for Nov. 15, a Saturday. Earlier that day, however, Jones took off from Woodbridge, Va., in his private airplane, a Piper Pacer. He had arranged for a flyover from Andrews to support the opening of a new airport at Culpeper, about 40 miles from Woodbridge, and he was flying there in his Piper to check on arrangements.

Soon after he cleared the field at Woodbridge, he radioed that he was turning around. He came in too low, hit some power lines, crashed, and was killed. The investigators could find no problem with the flight controls. Their conclusion was that Jones had suffered some physical incapacity on his way out and that his heart failed and he lost consciousness as he was returning."

NTSB Identification: IAD70A0033
14 CFR Part 91 General Aviation
Event occurred Saturday, November 15, 1969 in WOODBRIDGE, VA
Aircraft: PIPER PA-20, registration: N7015K

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FILE DATE LOCATION AIRCRAFT DATA INJURIES FLIGHT PILOT DATA
F S M/N PURPOSE
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3-2833 69/11/15 WOODBRIDGE,VA PIPER PA-20 CR- 1 0 0 NONCOMMERCIAL COMMERCIAL, AGE 47, 7748
TIME - 1255 N7015K PX- 0 0 0 PLEASURE/PERSONAL TRANSP TOTAL HOURS, 700 IN TYPE,
DAMAGE-DESTROYED OT- 0 0 0 INSTRUMENT RATED.
NAME OF AIRPORT - WOODBRIDGE
DEPARTURE POINT INTENDED DESTINATION
WOODBRIDGE,VA CULPEPPER,VA
TYPE OF ACCIDENT PHASE OF OPERATION
ENGINE FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION TAKEOFF: INITIAL CLIMB
STALL: SPIRAL IN FLIGHT: OTHER
PROBABLE CAUSE(S)
POWERPLANT - MISCELLANEOUS: POWERPLANT FAILURE FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS
PILOT-LOSS OF CONTROL FOR UNDETERMINED CAUSE.
COMPLETE POWER LOSS - COMPLETE ENGINE FAILURE/FLAMEOUT-1 ENGINE
EMERGENCY CIRCUMSTANCES - FORCED LANDING OFF AIRPORT ON LAND
FIRE AFTER IMPACT
REMARKS- ACFT OBSVD IN L TRN IN NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE.

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He11 of a way to lose a hero!

[Ken]

I was hoping someone from the museum in WA would chime in about their airplane ...

[whistlingdeath77]

love that skyraider. makes you wonder if they were brand new again, could they still drop their pay load in iraq and be successful?

[viking73]

I just finished reading "Cheating Death" by George Marrett. It is a great, well written account of the author's tour of duty flying the A-1 in Laos. Especially riveting to me were the rescue ("Sandy") missions which included an account of the Streetcar 304 save, Lt. Kenny Fields.

Col. Jones is in the book as is his MOH mission since he flew with Mr. Marrett. This book was well worth the read.

-Derek

[N3Njeff]

I just finished reading "Cheating Death" by George Marrett. It is a great, well written account of the author's tour of duty flying the A-1 in Laos. Especially riveting to me were the rescue ("Sandy") missions which included an account of the Streetcar 304 save, Lt. Kenny Fields.

Col. Jones is in the book as is his MOH mission since he flew with Mr. Marrett. This book was well worth the read.

-Derek

One of my cherrished books in my collection of Vietnam history.

[Hal B]

I was hoping someone from the museum in WA would chime in about their airplane ...

What would you like to know?

Check out www.heritageflight.org The new website is up with some great pics of the AD with armament and tanks...