On the afternoon of Friday, the 4th of April 1975, a C-5A, AF Ser. No. 68-0218, making the inaugural flight of Operation Babylift, departed Tan Son Nhut Air Base for
Clark Air Base in the
Philippines. This first group of orphans would then transfer to charter flights and be welcomed by President Ford upon arriving in the United States in
San Diego,
California. At 4:15 p.m. the C-5A was over the
South China Sea, about off
Vũng Tàu, copilot, Captain Tilford Harp (aged 28 at the time of the incident); and flight engineer,
Master Sergeant Allen Engles, attempted to regain control of the airplane, and to perform a 180-degree turn in order to return to Tan Son Nhut. The aircraft began to exhibit
phugoid oscillations, but the crew countered them and maintained a controlled descent at about . They were able to bring the plane to and begin the approach to Tan Son Nhut's runway 25L. While turning on final approach, the plane's descent rate suddenly began to increase rapidly. The crew increased power to the engines in an attempt to arrest the descent, but despite their efforts, the plane touched down at 4:45 p.m. in a rice paddy, and skidded for a quarter of a mile (400 m), became airborne again for another half-mile (800 m), crossing the
Saigon River, then hit a dike and broke up into four pieces. The fuel caught fire and some of the wreckage was set ablaze. Survivors struggled to extricate themselves from the wreckage. The crash site was in a muddy rice paddy near the Saigon River, one mile (1.6 km) from the nearest road. Most of the survivors were in the upper deck, while most of the people in the lower deck were killed. Fire engines could not reach the site, and helicopters had to set down some distance from the wreckage. About 100 South Vietnamese soldiers deployed around the site, which was near the site of an engagement with the
Viet Cong the previous night. Out of 314 people on board, the death toll included 78 children, 35
Defense Attaché Office employees and 11 U.S. Air Force personnel; there were 176 survivors. All of the surviving orphans were eventually flown to the United States. The dead orphans were cremated and were interred at the cemetery of the St. Nikolaus Catholic Church in
Pattaya, Thailand. The accident would also "stand as the single largest loss of life" in the
Defense Intelligence Agency's history until the
September 11 attacks because among the crash fatalities were five DIA employees.
Aftermath Some members of the
United States Congress called for a grounding of C-5s. In the end, the fleet was put under severe operational restrictions for several months while the cause was established. The U.S. Air Force Accident Investigation Board attributed the survival of any on board to Captain Traynors unorthodox use of power and his decision to crash land while the aircraft still allowed him some control. Captains Traynor and Harp, who both survived, were awarded the
Air Force Cross for extraordinary valor. Thirty-seven medals were awarded to crew members or their next of kin. USAF Flight Nurse 1st Lieutenant Regina Aune received the
Cheney Award for 1975. ==Investigation==