Date:	Friday 26 December 1969
Time:
Type:	Grumman A-6A Intruder
Owner/operator:	VA-35, US Navy
Registration:	152891
MSN:	I-195
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	off USS Coral Sea, in Gulf of Tonkin, 110 miles off North Vietnam -   Vietnam
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), off coast of Vietnam
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
A-6A Intruder BuNo. 152891 of VA‑35, US Navy on board the USS Coral Sea (CV-43). Lost on combat operations on December 26, 1969: Configured for a tanker sortie crashed in the Gulf of Tonkin, 110 miles off the coast of North Vietnam, at approximate Coordinates: 08'20.57"N 108'22.42"E, whilst on approach to be recovered by the carrier. According to an eyewitness report:

"I was on board the Coral Sea and witnessed this incident. The pilot of the A-6 was Walter Henry Kosky. The captain came over the 1-mc to announce a crippled bird was returning and word was passed to me that it was the plane of my friend - Kosky- the a/c was approaching the deck from forward port side...as Kosky appeared to begin his final appproach the a/c from only a few hundred feet altitude and about 300 yards off the port side took a 90 degree nose dive. Both men ejected...as I recall their chutes did not have time to deploy. The chopper could not locate Trowbridge but the crew retrieved the body of my friend Kosky"

Since the wreckage could not be recovered the cause of the crash remains unknown. Both crew killed: the two crew members were Lt (JG) Walter H. Kosky, pilot, and Lt (JG) Dustin C. Trowbridge, of Wayne, Illinois, bombardier-navigator. As the above eyewitness report confirms, both were declared Killed in Action with immediate effect, with Lt Trowbridge being declared "Killed in Action, Body Not Recovered"

1. A-6 Intruder Units of the Vietnam War By Rick Morgan & Jim Laurier
2. U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps Aircraft Damaged or Destroyed During the Vietnam War By Douglas E. Campbell
3, http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/thirdseries19.html
4. http://web.archive.org/web/20171103001143/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/aircraft_by_type/a6_prowler.htm
5. http://www.virtualwall.org/dk/KoskyWH01a.htm
6. http://web.archive.org/web/20180422222159/http://www.millionmonkeytheater.com/A-6.html
7. https://www.findagrave.com/page=gr&GRid=62476412
8. http://www.usscoralsea.org/powmia.php

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
20-Aug-2013 07:56	Uli Elch	Added
20-Aug-2013 07:59	Uli Elch	Updated [Date, Registration, Cn, Location, Narrative]
21-Mar-2016 00:07	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]