Captain John Parker was the first pilot to go down and the others were: Captain Joseph Reynes, Captain Charles Summers, Captain Sam Holmes, 1st Lt. Donald Watson, and 1st Lt. John Hauschildt. All ejected safely and were rescued except for 1st Lts. Watson and Hauschildt who were killed. The deaths of Lts. Watson and Hauschildt were part of a larger coincidental tragedy. When four friends who had attended the Air Force Academy together were all assigned to Cannon AFB as pilots, they decided to pool their money and buy a house. Three of the four pilots were assigned to the 481st and the fourth, Lt. Thomas McAtee, was assigned to the 429th Tactical Fighter Squadron. In the space of ten weeks, three of the four friends were killed. On 29 July 1965, Lt. Donald D. Watson was killed in South Vietnam. On 23 August 1965, Ralph Ford was killed on a training flight near Nara Visa, New Mexico and on 5 October 1965, Lt. John Hauschildt was killed on a bombing mission in South Vietnam. McAtee was in Vietnam during this time and had flown 36 combat missions with the 429th TFS. He was shocked to learn of the deaths of his three friends and returned to Clovis, New Mexico in October 1965 to sell the house. On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Lt. Donald Davis Watson's name is on Panel 02E Row 46 and Lt. John Charles Hauschildt's name is on Panel 02E Row 107. Both men are buried at the Air Force Academy cemetery. By 27 November 1965, the 481st was headed back to Cannon AFB and had flown more than 3,600 combat sorties and established an incredible 98% aircraft in commission rate that assured every combat mission was flown as scheduled. During this deployment to Vietnam, the 481st accumulated 5,025 hours of combat flight-time. Shortly after returning to Cannon AFB, the 481st became a Replacement Training Unit charged with training F-100 pilots for worldwide assignments. The mission of the squadron did not change until 5 September 1968 when it began preparing for the receipt of F-111 aircraft and a return to tactical operations. From that date until 1 July 1969, the squadron possessed no organizational aircraft and was listed as "inactive" by the 27th TFW. Although 1 July 1969 saw the 481st manned again, it did not receive its first F-111E until 30 September 1969.