Hometown: Strawberry Plains, TN
Branch: U.S. Air Force
Unit: 6994th Security Squadron, 7th Air Force 
Military Honors: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal (4)
Date of Sacrifice: October 6, 1969 - near Phù Cát, Bình Định province, Republic of Vietnam
Age: 26
Conflict: Vietnam War, 1959-1975

Ron Knight hailed from Strawberry Plains, Tennessee—a small town northeast of Knoxville, along the banks of the Holston River. He graduated from Fulton High School in Knoxville with the class of 1961.

According to Jim McDade, a high school friend, “Ronnie danced so funny, the rest of us nicknamed him ‘Creature.’ He was a great friend!”

Knight graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee and later served a year in Turkey as a volunteer with the Peace Corps. Before joining the United States Air Force, he took a job with the Knoxville Housing Authority.

His service in the Air Force included the T-37B Pilot Training program at Moody Air Force Base near Valdosta, Georgia. By 1968, First Lieutenant Knight was trained to fly the EC-47, a version of the Douglas C-47 Skytrain (DC-3) that was retrofitted for electronic reconnaissance.

On December 13, 1968, Knight left for a tour of duty in Vietnam, assigned to the 6994th Security Squadron, 7th Air Force. His squadron was based at Phu Cat Air Base in southern Vietnam’s Binh Dịnh province, along the coast of the South China Sea.

1st Lt. Knight was awarded four Air Medals for successfully completing missions under hazardous conditions. He would later receive the Distinguished Flying Cross “for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight.”

Vietnam’s summer monsoon season had not yet ended in early October of 1969, and pilots who routinely flew missions out of Phu Cat were accustomed to dealing with high winds and heavy rain.

On October 8, First Lieutenant Knight piloted Flight 43-4900, an EC-47 with the call sign “Prong 33” and a crew of six. They were to conduct an airborne Radio Direction Finding (RDF) mission, to help determine the locations and movements of enemy units. According to the Department of Defense National Security Agency:

Aircraft and crew were due to take off at 1440 that afternoon. As the day wore on, the weather continued to deteriorate. Despite the harsh conditions, the plane left on schedule; however, the crew was forced to return when it became clear that the weather and navigational radars were not working properly. The team returned to the base and was informed it would take an inordinate amount of time to fix the problems. Undaunted, pilot and crew took off again at 1630 only to determine that due to both the weather and continuing technical problems, the mission could not be completed. The decision was then made to return to Phu Cat.

As the aircraft was making its final approach, the crew reported that they were dealing with an electrical fire and the complete loss of the aircraft’s navigational instruments. Shortly after that transmission, all contact with the plane was lost and the aircraft vanished from the radar screen. Inclement conditions hampered the initial search and rescue effort, but four days later, the weather finally cleared and the wreckage of the plane was found. The entire crew had perished in the crash.

First Lieutenant Ronald H. Knight, age 26, was lost along with five other crew members of Prong 33. Knight was laid to rest at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri, and is honored on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., his name inscribed on Panel 17W, Line 50.

Sources
Artist’s rendering by Craig Du Mez, from an original photo.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Jun. 15, 1969: Pilot Gets Medal
The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Oct. 15, 1969: Knight, AF Pilot Dies in Crash
East Tennessee Veterans Memorial Association: Ronald H. Knight
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund—The Wall of Faces: Ronald Harold Knight
National Security Agency/Central Security Service: Flight 43-49100, Call Sign Prong 33
Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives: Crash of a Douglas EC-47P in Phù Cát: 6 killed
HonorStates.org: Ronald Harold Knight
Burial Site: Find a Grave