Class of 1963

"John Hooper Hathaway, V"
"Hath"
d 1969

  Service
United States Air Force		  
Highest Rank
Captain		 Years of Service
6		 Combat
Yes
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Biography as of: Oct 29, 2013

John lettered in football and track at high school in Deland, FL. At the Academy he lettered one year in football and served as manager. He graduated with a degree in Public Affairs.

John went to pilot training at Reese AFB, TX, then to Castle AFB, CA, to learn to fly KC-135 tankers. His first operational assignment began in February 1965 when he was assigned to the 32nd Aerial Refueling Squadron at Lockbourne AFB, OH. The squadron had a commitment to keep tankers on alert at Goose AB near Canada's northeast coast. The 32nd experienced numerous other TDY deployments.

 By January 1969 when John was notified of his upcoming assignment to fly AC-119Gs at Nha Trang AB, South Vietnam, he'd spent more than 6 months TDY to Southeast Asia. While flying KC-135s, he'd logged 46 missions over South Vietnam and 48 other missions refueling B-52s for Arc Light bombing missions in SEA.

In 1969 John had about 3 weeks of Combat Crew Training at Lockbourne for the new AC-119G, side firing gunships modified from the old C-119 cargo planes. In February he was assigned to C-flight of the 17th Special Operations Squadron at Tan Son Nhut AB, near Saigon. Under the call sign, Shadow, C-flight's gunships flew armed reconnaissance, provided air support for troops-in-contact, and worked with night FACs. In February one Shadow crew flew 2 sorties and fired 150,000 rounds to prevent Fire Support Base Thunder II from being overrun. After such support to save friendly lives on the ground, a close-out message often received was "Good night, thank you, and God bless you, Shadow!"

A press release about one of John's missions told of him and his crew coming to the rescue of a Vietnamese Army outpost in the Mekong delta. John was flying night patrol when the attack began. The outpost was surrounded when Shadow arrived, and John's crew drove off the attackers. Such likely were many of the missions John flew.
On 11 October 1969, the left engine on John's AC-119G, Shadow 76, caught fire just as they were taking off. At slow speed on only one engine, there was hardly enough air flowing over the ailerons and rudders to keep the aircraft from rolling left. The aircraft crashed only 350 yards from the SW perimeter of the base. Three crewmen and a South Vietnamese airman survived, perhaps due to the final actions of the pilots to maintain some control of the crash. John was not one of the survivors.

The original deployment of the AC-119Gs had been delayed because as Bill Hamilton put it, "As a result of trying to cram in all of the equipment that had been developed up to that point, the aircraft was overweight and the loss of an engine on takeoff resulted in a negative climb rate." An "extensive weight reduction program" helped, but the AC-119Gs would be flown right at the limits of what could mean life or death if an engine failed on takeoff.

"I regret to inform you that I will not be able to attend this service. John was a wonderful human being. He is still missed by his family and lovingly thought of often. John was a true military man who believed it was his duty to serve his country. and of course, this is the sad reason I am writing to you."    Carole (Hathaway) Dapoz
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