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Need help finding Relatives of Dean Vandam


jwindham
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He was aboard this flight but can not find out any info about him!

A United States Air Force C-130

Hercules crashed in a mountainous

area of north-east Turkey on April

13. There were no survivors of the 28

persons on board. Unconfirmed reports

state that the aircraft was on

fire before hitting a mountain. The

Hercules had been airborne for 30min

out of Erzurum.

ACCIDENT DETAILS

Date: April 13, 1982

Time: 14:40 Location: Near Erzurum, Turkey Operator: Military - U.S. Air Force Flight #: ?

Route: Erzurum - Incirlik AC

Type: Lockheed C-130H

Registration: 74-1678 cn / ln: 4645

Aboard: 27 (passengers:19 crew:8) Fatalities: 27 (passengers:19 crew:8) Ground: 0

Summary: Failure of the No.4 engine followed by separation of the engine and propeller of the No.3 engine. Overpressurization of the right wing resulting in an explosion and in-flight fire. A Mayday was received from the aircraft before it fell and crashed into mountainous terrain and burst into flames. Attachment bolts to support the No. 4 engine had not been installed.

April 13, 1982 : C-130H 74-1678, c/n 4645, of the 463rd Tactical Airlift Wing, as of October 1977 with black camel on tail. Crashed near Sivas, 360 kilometers east of Ankara, Turkey, when number four (starboard outer) engine mount failed, destroyed number three (starboard inner) engine, wing broke

190. April 13, 1982 : C-130H 74-1678, c/n 4645, of the 463rd Tactical Airlift Wing, as of October 1977 with black camel on tail. Crashed near Sivas, 360 kilometers east of Ankara, Turkey, when number four (starboard outer) engine mount failed, destroyed number three (starboard inner) engine, wing broke.

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Dean was dating Kay, a meter maid for the Abilene Police Dept. They met at the officers club. He had a motorcycle and a white car of some sort. He took her flying out at emdale several times. Spoke of a brother. She lived in Abilene at the time. She got invited to go with a group to Aspen for the weekend but did not go. Thats all I have gotten so far. My wife wanted to see a picture of him but was afraid to track his family down.

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http://463rdairliftersassoc.org/names2.htm

Might try this guy....

Name: Jim Caudill

HomeAddTown: Fairborn

State: OH

Unit: 773 TAS

Location: Dyess AFB Abilene, TX

Year: 79 -81

Comments: I trained and flew with Mike Jones and Dean VanDam, both of whom died in C-130 crashes in Turkey (2 years apart)

Jim Caudill

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.herkybirds.com/forums/image.php%3Fu%3D161%26dateline%3D1246903989&imgrefurl=http://www.herkybirds.com/forums/showthread.php%3Fp%3D8998&usg=__iYNHnPqD7l9TSRK11k4YVLQTfkM=&h=125&w=97&sz=8&hl=en&start=17&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=9cEHBGpCPIqlDM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=70&prev=/images%3Fq%3DDean%2BVandam%2Bc-130%2Bcrash%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1

Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2008

Location: Fairborn, Ohio

Posts: 2

I was a pilot with the 773 from 1979 to 1981. I knew crew members on both the 1980 crash and the 1982 crash. The 1980 crash occurred on March 14, 1980 and was due to a lightning strike that caused one of the internal fuel tanks in the wing to explode. This aircraft was carrying a number of civilians, incuding a teen "rock & roll" band that was to perform at another base. Our squadrom was on rotation and I had just returned to Mildenhall the week before, after flying a 17day stint in Turkey. Our crew was serving as the admin crew when we dispatched this crew to Turkey just 2 days prior to the crash. The regular nav on this crew (Brian Gomula) was not on board and was substituted by LtCol Benjamin Barnette that had just arrived to be the "on-site" commander for our operations in Turkey. I had flown with most of the crew members including the co-pilot Mike Jones (we were at Little Rock together and at Laughlin when I was going thru UPT)

The other crash on April13, 1982 was with a sister squadron, but the A/C was from my squadrom (773). His name was Dean VanDam (we called him Dino or Deano). I flew with, and trained in the sim, with Dino. He was trying to build up enough overseas TDY time to qualify as a remote tour - hence his volunteer status with the other squadron. He was also "best buddies" with Rick Wagner (the A/C of the prior 1980 crash). His crash came within about a month of being 2 years since we lost the other crew. The VanDam crash was due to missing and failed engine mount bolts. There had been an emergency T.O. inspection, requiring a check of the torque, on all engine mount bolts. Apparently some of these inspections had been falsified to get aircraft back in the air. Allegedly, some that knew this, and insisted that the aircraft being deployed on rotation go thru a "second" inspection. Maintenance personell, thinking that the aircraft had already been inspected just a few months prior, "pencil whipped" the second inspection. This aircraft was later determined to have been missing an engine bolt and had another one loose. The failure occurred when number four (starboard outer) engine mount failed, destroyed number three (starboard inner) engine, and the wing broke. Among the passengers of this flight was an entire IG team.

FYI the 773rd experienced a couple of other crashes during this time period: In Sept. 1981 another crash occurred in the

Nevada desert on a special night mission killing 7 Army soldiers. This was a controlled flight into terrain, during a blackout landing attempt. I know a fair amount of this one from hearsay, but won't share it on this forum. Also, in June 1983 another 773rd C-130 crashed at Nellis Air Force Base during a Red Flag exercise, near Las Vegas, Nev., killing six.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last edited by Jim Caudill; 09-21-2009 at 03:33 PM.

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All I have found is DOB and DOD. Was hoping for a squad picture or a write up in the Peace Maker, No Luck..

This was a write up on the accident that was alittle different:

A United States Air Force C-130

Hercules crashed in a mountainous

area of north-east Turkey on April

13. There were no survivors of the 28

persons on board. Unconfirmed reports

state that the aircraft was on

fire before hitting a mountain. The

Hercules had been airborne for 30min

out of Erzurum.

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  • 1 year later...

I can tell about Captain Dean Van Dam. His father Arnold was married to my mother, Irene. He has a brother named Keith. His hometown was Montpelier, North Dakota. His elementary and high scholl was Montpelier also. I read the accident report concerning the crash as well. I can be reached at [email protected]. I can be reached on Facebook also. Just search for Tom Randall

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