Working 10-hour days for $20 a week, Dougherty’s main job was to inspect and spray parachutes with fire retardant.
Missing in Action
Unlocking Mysteries for a Grieving Family
By Julie Knight
On Dec. 7, 1966, during the Vietnam War, U.S. Air Force Capt. John W. Carlson, 27, was killed when his Northrop Grumman F-5C Tiger Jet crashed. The cause of the crash is unknown and his remains were never recovered.
For decades, the Carlson family lived with unanswered questions. The loss itself was devastating, but the uncertainty surrounding the crash and the inability to bring him home troubled his family ever since.
While a few wreckage sites were identified in the area he was flying, over the years, several organizations were unable to positively identify wreckage believed to be from his aircraft. In 2023, Capt. Carlson’s family contacted Northrop Grumman for help.
I had a classmate whose father was shot down in Vietnam. Her family never knew what had happened to him, and I never forgot the anguish she felt. I wanted to do whatever I could to bring comfort and healing to this family.
Answering the Call
John Whittenbury, who leads Aircraft Advanced Design for the company’s Research and Advanced Design Division, took on the challenge.
“I enjoy working on exciting and challenging programs that keep our country safe,” said John, who joined Northrop Grumman in 2001 as a design engineer. “But most of all, I love our people, our values and what we stand for. Helping Capt. Carlson’s family get closure just felt like doing the right thing.”
For the past two years, in his off hours, John worked diligently behind the scenes to help gather pieces of the puzzle for the Carlson family.
He collaborated with several colleagues on the project. Most notably, he worked with Ron Gibb, a retired F-5 and T-38 program chief engineer, tapping his vast knowledge of the plane Capt. Carlson was flying.
He also reached out to another retiree he knew from General Electric, Samuel “Bo” Powel from GE Aerospace, maker of the J85-GE-13 engines used in the F-5C.
Bo assembled a team to research the problem and was instrumental in helping identify engine parts and other components. He also helped track down serial numbers on parts for verification. After Bo retired, his successor, Mike McGhee, continued the effort to help.
Pulling Together Pieces of the Puzzle
The team pored over illustrated parts manuals and decades-old drawings, looking for distinctive features that could help confirm the aircraft’s identity.
“At first, we tried to match pieces they found from an engine to serial numbers to his aircraft but couldn't do that,” John said. “We determined that pieces of the wreckage found were from the type of engine that was used in the F-5C. However, the same turbine wheel was used in another aircraft that also crashed nearby, so it was challenging to make a definitive identification.”
Recently, new photographs of the wreckage surfaced. Combined with their research and examination of recovered parts, the evidence became compelling.
“We now feel very certain it was Capt. Carlson’s aircraft,” John said.
Honoring a Fallen Airman
Finally, the Carlson family had answers to questions that had torn at their hearts for so long.
In July 2025, at Fighter Squadron Composite 111 in Key West, Florida, an American flag was flown aboard a U.S. Navy Reserve F-5N in Capt. Carlson’s honor. John and Ron later presented that flag — together with F-5 memorabilia gathered — to Capt. Carlson’s daughter Kim Carlson Benner during a visit to the Western Museum of Flight in Torrance, California.
For John, the mission was personal.
“I had a classmate whose father was shot down in Vietnam. Her family never knew what had happened to him, and I never forgot the anguish she felt,” he said. “I wanted to do whatever I could to bring comfort and healing to this family.”
What's Next?
Kim and her sister Margot are planning to visit the crash site in Vietnam in December thanks to information provided by Northrop Grumman that helped narrow the search area. “Kim thanked us for our caring and support and told me she is committed to finding their father’s remains so that he can be brought home and laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.”
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