The Defense Department announced yesterday that the remains of Lt. Col. Earl P. Hopper Jr., an F-4D Phantom pilot missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to his family. Hopper’s F-4D was shot down by a surface-to-air-missile during a four-ship mission near Hanoi, North Vietnam, on Jan. 10, 1968. While his co-pilot, Capt. Keith Hall, was able to eject and was subsequently captured and held as a POW until 1973, Hopper was unable to eject. A series of investigations and excavations at the crash site in Son La Province, west of Hanoi, between 1993 and 1998 led to the recovery of skeletal fragments and crew-related items that ultimately resulted in Hopper’s forensic identification.
Expanded production of the B-21 bomber can be accomplished at Northrop Grumman's existing Palmdale, Calif., facilities, the Air Force said. It also said test aircraft will be so simular to the production version that early examples could be used in combat if called for.