A report that Cdr Blackburn committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide pill circulated after the prisoners returned from Hanoi, but this seems fanciful and cannot be substantiated. His remains were handed over by the Vietnamese government on 10 April 1986 and positively identified in November of that year. ↑ Toperczer, 2015, pp. 214. ↑ "The Air War In Afghanistan". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 3 December 2021. ↑ "Turkey 'shoot down warplane on Syria border'".