Rattler/Firebird Association

I was in the flight of Rattler aircraft dropping off grunts on an old airstrip. My ship was number three of ten. The ship Nowack was on was number nine. As we were about to touch down I was looking toward the rear of my aircraft. All of a sudden I saw what appeared to be two aircraft coming all to pieces. I keyed my mike and said, “Oh my God, we’ve got a midair back here”!. My aircraft commander, WO-1 Conrad Howard started to take us out of the line when I told him we were ok, it was at the back of the flight. Maydays came over the radio from other aircraft. What I had actually witnessed was, as Nowack’s aircraft flared to land, the tailboom came off. The aircraft immediately begin to spin throwing the grunts out the cargo doors. Two of the crewmembers were killed, Nowack and William Robbins. Several grunts were also killed. A couple of aircraft were detailed to carry the wounded and dead to Long Binh while the rest of us continued the mission. When we came back with the next load, Mr. Howard was ordered to pick up one KIA that was not on the other ships. They carried this black guy over and placed him on my ship. I found it hard to believe that I had just seen this man killed a few minutes earlier. May all these men rest in peace.