Instrument Training Flight

Written by: Kelly Durham

By the fall of 1972, as America prepared to cast ballots for President Richard Nixon or his challenger, South Dakota Senator George McGovern, Brian Ritchie had already served in Vietnam and returned to the relative safety of a stateside assignment.

Ronald Brian Ritchie was a biology major from Columbia and a member of the Class of 1969.  He married Clemson alumna Teresa “Terry” Charles in June 1967.  Their daughter Lynn was born in September 1968.

Ritchie was a Navy lieutenant (junior grade) assigned to Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 33 as a naval flight officer.  In Vietnam, the squadron provided carrier-based electronic countermeasure services to the fleet.  The 33^rd returned to Naval Air Station Norfolk, Virginia in 1970.  Its new mission was to simulate electronic threats to units of the fleet.  Participating in exercises, the 33^rd’s aircraft would simulate missiles and jamming radars.

Ritchie was a naval flight officer specializing in airborne weapons and sensor systems and flew as part of the three-man crew on the A3 Skywarrior, a jet-powered strategic bomber also known as the “Whale” as the heaviest aircraft to operate from Navy carriers.  Initially used as a nuclear-armed strategic bomber, its mission was redefined with the development of effective ballistic missiles.  By the middle 1960s, the A3’s role was as a tactical bomber, aerial reconnaissance platform, and electronic warfare aircraft.

On October 10, 1972, Ritchie was assigned to a routine instrument training flight originating in Norfolk with an intended destination of Pensacola, Florida.  Shortly after takeoff, the pilot radioed Norfolk requesting to cancel his flight plan and return to base immediately.  Before he could return, the aircraft went into a dive and crashed in an unpopulated, wooded area two miles west of Holland, Virginia.  One crew member, Lieutenant (junior grade) Jeffrey Haushalter, managed to eject, but though his parachute deployed, he did not survive.  Ritchie and the other crewmember, Lieutenant (junior grade) David Grant, were also killed.

Ritchie was survived by his wife and daughter.  He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

For more information on Lieutenant (junior grade) Ronald Brian Ritchie see:

https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/ronald-brian-ritchie/

For additional information on Clemson University’s Scroll of Honor visit:

https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/