Date:	Saturday 20 December 1969
Time:	16:45 LT
Type:	North American Rockwell OV-10A Bronco
Owner/operator:	VAL-4 US Navy
Registration:	155503
MSN:	305-114
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Rung Sat, 8 miles N of Vung Tau, South Vietnam -   Vietnam
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Vung Tau, South Vietnam
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Lost during patrol along the the Saigon Long Tau shipping channel while investigating suspicious sampan.

Per VAL-4 operational diary: "BuNo 155503 from the Vung Tau Detachment was lost on Saturday evening, 20 December 1969. The single aircraft was patrolling the Saigon Long Tau shipping channels with a pilot and Marine air observer aboard, under control of the Moon River Naval Operations Center.

The pilot advised the Center that he was descending to investigate a suspicious sampan at about 4:45 p.m., and the Center was unable to contact the flight after that radio transmission. After twenty minutes of silence, the Vung Tau VAL-4 alert crew was scrambled to search for the missing aircraft. The burning wreckage site was spotted 10 minutes later in the swampy Rung Sat Special Zone, 8 miles north of Vung Tau. There were no parachute canopies visible in the area and no beeping or voice transmissions were detected on the survival radio frequencies.

At the present time there is no factual evidence to indicate the cause of the crash, but the area is definitely hostile where ground fire is often encountered. ARVN troops are being inserted in the area to set up a perimeter around the crash site and a Navy investigating and salvage team will be placed on the scene by helos on Sunday morning."

Both crew - Lt(jg) Joel Alexis Sandberg, USN, and Capt Carl Edwin Long, USMC - posted as MIA/KIA. The remains of Capt Carl Edwin Long Carl's were recovered and returned to the United States, and were buried in Site 50 of Section 68 in Arlington National Cemetery In Washington D.C., on September 16, 2004.

http://www.ov-10bronco.net/techreports.cfm
http://www.blackpony.org/memorial.html
http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/thirdseries19.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20160917114715/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/Aircraft_by_Type/OV_10_BRONCO.htm

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
23-Nov-2011 10:33	Dr. John Smith	Added
11-Jan-2012 15:43	Uli Elch	Updated [Operator, Narrative]
27-Dec-2019 15:19	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator]