What happened to Donald W. Downing? Missing Wisconsin Air Force Pilot’s 1967 disappearance from Vietnam solved

Federal agencies have finally solved the mystery behind the disappearance of Wisconsin’s Lt. Col. Donald W. Downing, an Air Force pilot, after more than 57 years.

As per the official records, the Wisconsin pilot disappeared in September 1967 during the Vietnam War. Captain Downing was assigned to the 557th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 12th Tactical Fighter Wing, 7th Air Force.

Furthermore, he was piloting one of the two aircraft conducting “a nighttime armed reconnaissance mission” over the northern part of Vietnam (then known as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam).

On the night of September 5, 1967, the first aircraft observed “a large, bright fireball in the air” while the mission was still underway. After the observation, there was no response from the Wisconsin pilot, who was flying an F-4C Phantom II aircraft.

The US Air Force commenced their search and rescue operations during the daytime. However, the rescue team couldn’t find the plane or Downing in “electronic and visual searches.”

After more than a decade, the Air Force declared Captain Downing as Killed in Action. The Air Force captain was later promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, as a posthumous honor.

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Wisconsin’s Lt. Col. Donald W. Downing was finally accounted for in December 2024

Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), which is tasked with recovering and identifying the personnel who became "Missed in Action” or “Prisoners of War” during their service, released a PR on January 21, 2025. In the release, DPAA announced that the Wisconsin pilot, who disappeared in 1967 during the Vietnam War, was accounted for on December 20, 2024.

In May and June 2024, DPAA succeeded for the first time in decades during a “Joint Field Activity” involving the rescue team 24-3VN. The official statement from DPAA reads,

“After decades of investigation into the incident yielding no results, a recovery team with Joint Field Activity 24-3VN recovered life support equipment, possible material evidence, aircraft wreckage, unexploded ordnance and possible osseous material at a site in Quang Binh Province in May and June 2024. Evidence from the mission was accessioned into the DPAA laboratory in June 2024.”

The agency further disclosed that it used “anthropological analysis,” alongside “material and circumstantial evidence” to identify the remains of the Wisconsin pilot. Furthermore, “mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA analysis,” was used for additional identification. DPAA also said,

“Downing’s name is recorded on the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with others who are unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.”

After more than 57 years of his disappearance, DPAA will hold the Wisconsin Air Force pilot’s funeral. It will occur on an undetermined date in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.

Apart from the Vietnam War veteran’s story, DPAA had previously announced the successful recovery and identification of another soldier last month. Sgt. Homer C. Nyberg, who was Killed in Action during World War II, was accounted for September 30, 2024. Nyberg went MIA in December 1944 and was accounted for almost 80 years after his disappearance.