CLASSEN KENNETH L

Name: CIV Kenneth L. Classen
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 02/14/1971 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Home City: Wichita, KS
Service: .
Unit: CONTINENTAL
Prior Unit: 336 AHC 66-67
Flight class: 66-19/66-17
Service: .
Short Summary: Aircraft exploded in flight from unknown causes.
Aircraft: DC-3
Service number: W3154772
Country: Cambodia

Below are some memories from a good friend of Ken's who was nice enough to share them with us.

I met Ken in April 1969, in Korat, Thailand when we were first assigned to an Army Aviation unit there. He came there after serving as a helicopter instructor at Ft. Rucker, AL. Prior to that, he had served with distinction as a UH-1 helicopter pilot in Vietnam.

Because we were in a small unit in Korat, we flew together (in Beechcraft King Air airplanes made in Wichita) often. We became very good friends, then roommates in the BOQ at Korat.

After our year-long tour was up in mid - 1970 he left the Army and had a variety of flying jobs around Wichita.

He was overjoyed when hired by Continental Air Services to fly C47 cargo planes and be based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This was in late 1970. He went there just after Christmas.

I was stationed in Savannah, GA after I returned from Korat. It was there that I received the call from one of his family on Valentine's Day 1971, informing me that Ken had died that morning. The details of the accident were sketchy then, and are still. We do know that he was flying as a new co-pilot on the C47, when there was a suspected engine failure just after take off, the aircraft lost altitude and crashed. No survivors.

I and several other military friends attended his funeral. I visited his final resting place several times in the years soon after his death. It has been quite a few years since. I have forgotten the name of the cemetery and came across your website while searching for that information. I, and my wife Shari (who knew Ken well) will be through Wichita in April and want to pay our respects.

Ken was a good guy, a very competent pilot and one of the closest friends I ever had. We had a lot of fun together in that year we spent almost every day together. I still think of him almost every day.

Please let me know if you find this information helpful and don't hesitate to contact me for anything. I could go on for a long time about Ken.

Regards,

Al Meyer
South Saint Paul, MN
a-meyer@att.net