United States Navy Aircrew – 4 February 1967

by

COLLAMORE, ALLAN P JR

  • LCDR   US NAVY
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 12/22/1938
  • DATE OF DEATH: 02/04/1967
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 60  SITE 8135

ALLAN PHILIP COLLAMORE

Navy – LCDR – O4
Age: 36
Race: Caucasian
Sex: Male
Date of Birth Dec 22, 1938
From: WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
Religion: PROTESTANT
Marital Status: Single
His tour began on Feb 4, 1967
Casualty was on Jun 6, 1975
In , NORTH VIETNAM
Hostile, died while missing, FIXED WING – CREW
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was not recovered

THOMPSON, DONALD E

  • CDR   US NAVY
  • VIETNAM
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 02/17/1940
  • DATE OF DEATH: 02/04/1967
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 60  SITE 8135

DONALD EARL THOMPSON

Navy – LCDR – O4
Age: 37
Race: Caucasian
Sex: Male
Date of Birth Feb 17, 1940
From: WELLSVILLE, NY
Religion: PROTESTANT
Marital Status: Married
His tour began on Feb 4, 1967
Casualty was on Nov 14, 1977
In , NORTH VIETNAM
Hostile, died while missing, FIXED WING – PILOT
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was not recovered

COLLAMORE, ALLAN PHILIP JR.

Remains Returned 02/09/01, identified 05/15/03.
Name: Allan Philip Collamore, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O3/US Navy
Unit: Fighter Squadron 213, USS KITTY HAWK
Date of Birth: 22 December 1938
Home City of Record: Worcester MA
Date of Loss: 04 February 1967
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 200500N 1061500E
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4B
Refno: 0590

Other Personnel In Incident: Donald E. Thompson (missing)

Lieutenant Donald E. Thompson was a pilot and Lieuetnant Allan P. Collamore a Radar Intercept Officer, assigned to Fighter Squadron 213 onboard the aircraft carrier USS KITTY HAWK (CVA-63). On the night of February 4, 1967, Thompson and Collamore launched in their F4B Phantom fighter aircraft on an armed reconnaissance mission along the
coast of North Vietnam. They were wingman for a two plane section. The flight leader crossed the beach and executed a level flare dropping run.

Thompson’s aircraft was briefed to fly in a six to seven mile radar trail behind the other aircraft. Approximately one minute after the flare drop, the flight leader observed a large explosion behind him. He immediately initiated a turn back and attempted to contact his wingman with no results. He then arrived at the scene of the explosion and observed a large fire in the area. He radioed for search and rescue efforts to be initiated. No electronic or visual signals were identified from the area. Headlights of trucks were seen along with small arms fire and a red flare. The search was discontinued due to darkness and enemy ground fire. Searches the next day yielded no new information.

In September 1974 intelligence information possibly relating to the aircrash told of the downing of a jet where the two pilots were killed and their bodies buried near the crash site. This information was not positively confirmed.
Thompson and Collamore were classified Missing in Action, and were carried in this status for the next eight years. At this time, based on no information that they were alive, the two were declared administratively dead.

Wednesday, June 4, 2003

More than three decades after his U.S. Navy warplane inexplicably crashed in North Vietnam, Allan P. “Skip” Collamore Jr. is finally coming home to Worcester.

After his remains were identified via DNA testing just weeks ago, Collamore will be given a full military burial this afternoon at Hope Cemetery before his mother and two brothers. What little was found of Collamore’s body will be lowered into the ground next to his father, who died in 1978 – three years after his namesake was pronounced “presumed killed in action” by the military.

“We’re glad that it’s come to this, finally, after 36 years,” said older brother Jerry Collamore, now of Dallas. “I think it’s going to be some sort of relief, but I’m sure it will have its tough moments.”

Skip Collamore was a 28-year-old radar intercept officer flying in the rear seat of a fighter plane looking for “targets of opportunity” over North Vietnam on Feb. 4, 1967 when the plane suddenly vanished. A search crew went looking for Collamore’s plane the next day, but encountered heavy enemy fire. For years afterward, the Collamore family could only wonder what happened to Skip – and pray that perhaps he had ejected from the plane.

“I assumed he died in the aircraft right from the beginning,” said Jerry Collamore, who is a pilot himself. “But my mother had the hope (he had somehow survived), and I couldn’t take that away from her.”

In 1975, the military changed Collamore’s status from missing in action to presumed killed, but it wasn’t until about three years ago officials began to hone in on the crash scene.

Last year, searchers found the remnants of a flight suit and the dogtags of Collamore and a pilot from Watkins Glen, N.Y., at the crash scene. DNA testing confirmed Collamore’s identity a few weeks ago. This summer, the co-mingled remains of the two men will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

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