OV-1 Mohawk Crashes in Southern Laos (19 NOV 1966)

Official Statements

• U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, November 13: “On Nov. 19, 1966, an OV-1A Mohawk crashed in Attapeu Province, Laos, while performing aerial reconnaissance over the territory. Aboard the aircraft were Capt. James M. Johnstone and Maj. James L. Whited of the 17th Aviation Group. James Montgomery Johnstone enlisted in the Army in 1960 and trained as a paratrooper at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, before attending Officer Candidate School from 1961 to 1962.”

• U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, November 13: “He then trained as a cryptologic fixed-wing aviator, received his pilot’s wings in 1964, and was stationed at Fort Richardson, Alaska, before deployment to Vietnam in July 1966. James Lafayette Whited was a veteran of World War II, entering the service in December 1941 and serving in the Pacific Theater. He was discharged in September 1945. He later joined the National Guard in Oklahoma, was commissioned as an officer, and served during the Korean War. He deployed to Vietnam in September 1966.”

• U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, November 13: “The pair were assigned to subordinate units of the newly established 17th Aviation Group, which arrived in Vietnam in January 1966. The group, along with three others, was later subordinated to the Army’s first ever aviation brigade, U.S. Army Aviation Brigade (Provisional), which later became 1st Aviation Brigade of U.S. Army Vietnam (USARV).”

• U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, November 13: “Major Whited was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the brigade’s 223rd Aviation Battalion, while Captain Johnstone was assigned to the 20th Aviation Detachment, I Corps Aviation Battalion (reorganized in December 1966 as the 131st Aviation Company, 223rd Aviation Battalion). These units were responsible for tracking North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong elements along the Vietnam-Laos border.”

• U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, November 13: “Visual reconnaissance (VR) missions were performed in OV-1A Mohawks, which were specially designed for photo reconnaissance and were fitted with high-resolution cameras and limited armament. The aircraft was particularly useful for reconnoitering the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In a 2023 interview, Capt. (Ret.) Neil Ostgaard, who deployed with the 131st Aviation Company in October 1967, described how VR operations typically unfolded:”

  The mission briefings told [us] what they were looking for and the coordinates to cover. When we left, we’d know where we were going; what we were looking for; and how many passes we’d be taking. We always notified an Air Force operations aircraft when we arrived over and then left Laos. We flew over mountains every day to get there and that was a bit tricky.

• U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, November 13: “The “trickiness” of the flight path was made apparent during a routine VR mission on 19 November 1966. Whited, piloting the OV-1A Mohawk, and Johnstone, acting as an observer, completed an aerial search and were beginning their routine reconnaissance mission when the aircraft began to climb over a high ridgeline, struck a tree, and crashed. Due to heavy enemy presence in the region, attempts by Army personnel to reach the crash site failed.”

• U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, November 13: “The downed Mohawk was soon found by Laotian villagers, who looted some of the pilots’ belongings, including an American Express card belonging to Johnstone. This card was finally turned over to the American government forty years later, opening a new investigation into the crash. It was discovered that, due to an error in Johnstone’s records, the Joint Pow/Mia Accounting Command had been searching for the wreck in South Vietnam. With the correct coordinates, investigators located the site and finally brought Johnstone and Whited home.”

• U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, November 13: “In 2012, forty-six years after their final mission, Whited was buried in his hometown of Norman, Oklahoma, while Johnstone was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Over his twenty-two-year career in U.S. Army aviation, Major Whited had earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, four Air Medals, an Army Commendation Medal, and a Purple Heart. Captain Johnstone, who had served only six years in the Army at the time of his death, nevertheless had earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with Valor, and two Purple Hearts.”

• U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, November 13: “Article by Erin E. Thompson, USAICoE Staff Historian. New issues of This Week in MI History are published each week. To report story errors, ask questions, request previous articles, or be added to our distribution list, please contact: TR-ICoE-Command-Historian@army.mil.”