Name: James Atlee Wheeler
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: (unknown, per USAF)
Date of Birth: 10 February 1933
Home City of Record: Tucson AZ
Date of Loss: 18 April 1965
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 1002921N 1045451E (VX906594)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A1E

Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 September 1990 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.

REMARKS: CRASH - TARGET AREA

SYNOPSIS: The Douglas A1 Skyraider ("Spad") is a highly maneuverable, propeller
driven aircraft designed as a multipurpose attack bomber or utility aircraft.
The A1 was first used by the Air Force in its Tactical Air Command to equip the
first Air Commando Group engaged in counterinsurgency operations in South
Vietnam. The aircraft was retired in the spring of 1968 and had flown in more
than twenty model variations, probably more than any other U.S. combat aircraft.

Capt. James A. Wheeler was the pilot of an A1E assigned an interdiction mission
about 10 miles south of Tinh Bien in South Vietnam on April 18, 1965. The target
area, very close to the Cambodian border, was in Chau Doc Province. During
Wheeler's dive bombing attack, his aircraft was seen to release a fragmentation
bomb which detonated immediately. The aircraft dived straight into the ground
trailing fuel and smoke and exploded on impact. It was determined that Wheeler
could not have survived.

James A. Wheeler is listed among the missing because his remains were never
recovered. Others who are missing do not have such clear-cut cases. Some were
known captives; some were photographed as they were led by their guards. Some
were in radio contact with search teams, while others simply disappeared.

Since the war ended, over 250,000 interviews have been conducted with those who
claim to know about Americans still alive in Southeast Asia, and several million
documents have been studied. U.S. Government experts cannot seem to agree
whether Americans are there alive or not. Detractors say it would be far too
politically difficult to bring the men they believe to be alive home, and the
U.S. is content to negotiate for remains.

Well over 1000 first-hand, eye-witness reports of American prisoners still alive
in Southeast Asia have been received by 1990. Most of them are still classified.
If, as the U.S. seems to believe, the men are all dead, why the secrecy after so
many years? If the men are alive, why are they not home?

Return to POW/MIA Index to read about another missing American.