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[Spacer] [Air Force - .8K] Blair Charlton Wrye
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[Bunting - .4K]  Remains Returned - 1990   [Bunting - .4K]

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SUMMARY
  • Name: Blair Charlton Wrye
  • Rank/Branch: O4/US Air Force
  • Unit: TDY to 20th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron
  • Date of Birth: 23 May 1929
  • Home City of Record: Auburndale MA
  • Date of Loss: 12 August 1966
  • Country of Loss: North Vietnam
  • Loss Coordinates: 212600N 1062000E (UF595790)
  • Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
  • Category: 4
  • Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: RF101C
  • Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

  • REMARKS: Remains Returned 13 September 1990
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    SYNOPSIS: The RF101 first saw action in Vietnam in late 1961, flying photo missions over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the primary communist supply line through southern Laos, and the Plain of Jars to the northwest where Soviet transports were delivering supplies
    to communist troops.  The Voodoo later began conducting reconnaissance over South Vietnam as well.

    The RF101C was an outstanding reconnaissance craft, and although it looked "hot" and was fast enough (max. speed 1000 mph) to leave a MiG-17 far behind, it could not race away from the faster MiG-21, and was gradually phased out and replaced by the Phantom II with its greater speed and superior surveillance technology.

    Maj. Blair C. Wrye was a pilot assigned to the 20th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron
    at Udorn, Thailand.  On August 12, 1966, he was assigned a solo reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam.  The last contact with the aircraft was a radar reading approximately 110 miles from Udorn.

    It was assumed that Wrye's aircraft was shot down somewhere over his target area, and his loss coordinates are listed as in Nam Ha Province about 5 miles east of the city of Nam Dinh.  Wrye's family knew there was a very good chance that he had been captured, and waited for the war to end.  In 1973, however, when 591 American prisoners of war were released from Hanoi, Wrye was not among them.  The Vietnamese denied any knowledge of him.

    As the years passed, reports began to flow in to the U.S. regarding the roughly 3000 Americans unaccounted for at the end of the war.  By 1991 well over 10,000 reports have been received, convincing many authorities that hundreds of Americans are still alive in captivity in Southeast Asia.  Whether Wrye survived to be captured is not known.  What seems certain, however, is that we owe those who are alive our best efforts to bring them home.

    Blair C. Wrye was promoted to the rank of Colonel during the period he was maintained Missing in Action.  His remains were returned to U.S. control on September 13, 1990.

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