VAN CLEAVE, WALTER SHELBY

Name: Walter Shelby VanCleave
Branch/Rank: United States Air Force/O5
Unit:  480th Tactical Fighter Squadron
Date of Birth: 16 August 1927
Home City of Record: DALLAS TX
Date of Loss: 22 April 1969
Country of Loss: LAOS
Loss Coordinates: 0 0
Status (in 1973): Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D #0649
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident: Vincent Scott, KIA/BNR
Refno: 1430

Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews and CACCF = Combined Action
Combat Casualty File. 2020

REMARKS:

CACCF/CRASH/AIRCREW/18 YRS UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

No further information available at this time.

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Library of Congress files:

VAN CLEAVE WALTER 05 00024814 PILOT F4D ACRFT SN65-0049 DESTROYED
Name: VANCLEAVE, WALTER SHELBY

Subjects: Killed; Aircraft downed

Reel: 189

Page: 10

Type of Document: Miscellaneous

Date of Report: 69 04 23

Date of Information: 69 04 22

Category: Casualty files


Laos: Case Summary Information for Reference Number 1430
Country: Laos

Name: Van Cleave, W.S.

Subjects: Aircraft downed

Reel: 447

Page: 428-431

Type of Document: Miscellaneous

Date of Report: 96 02 14

Date of Information: 69 04 22

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02/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000001URlEAM

LT COL WALTER SHELBY VAN CLEAVE

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On April 22, 1969, an F-4D Phantom II (tail number 65-0649, call sign "Cobra 21") with two crew members was the lead aircraft on a two-plane combat mission over Laos. The Phantom was observed to make a normal pass over the target; however, a few minutes later, an explosion was witnessed in the vicinity of (GC) XC 951 503, in the direction of the lead aircraft. No further contact could be made with the Phantom, and no parachutes were seen in the area. Search teams could find no sign of the Phantom or its crew.

Lieutenant Colonel Walter Shelby Van Cleave, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Texas, was a member of the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron. He was the aircraft commander aboard the Phantom when it went missing, and he remains unaccounted for. Today, Lieutenant Colonel Van Cleave is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual's case to be in the analytical category of Deferred.

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