Robert Yates

1st Lt. Robert Yates, F-model lost over the Black Sea. On December 14, 1965, a 58th WRS aircraft out of Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, was lost over the Black Sea. The pilot was Capt. Lester L Lackey and the navigator was 1st Lt. Robert Yates. Small aircraft fragments were found but there was no sign of the crew. The cause was never determined but it was probably one of three reasons: an oxygen system failure, an irrecoverable Mach Tuck, or a Soviet SA-2 missile.