Federal agencies have finally solved the mystery behind the disappearance of Wisconsin’s Lt. Col. Donald W. Downing, an Air Force pilot, after more than 57 years.

Lt. Col. Donald Downing was piloting an F-4C Phantom II aircraft during a night mission when his plane disappeared in a fireball.

Downing was piloting an F-4C Phantom II aircraft during a night mission over the then-Democratic Republic of Vietnam in September 1967 when his plane disappeared.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Federal officials have identified the remains of a U.S. Air Force pilot from Wisconsin who went missing during the Vietnam War nearly 60 years ago. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Tuesday that its scientists in December positively identified the remains of U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Donald W. Downing of Columbus.

The aircraft U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Donald W. Downing, 33, of Columbus, Wisconsin, was in went down in September 1967.

Lt. Col. Donald Downing was reported killed in action in April 1978 after going missing in Vietnam in September 1967.

Downing’s name is recorded on the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu,

A Columbus man who was killed during the Vietnam War has now been accounted for, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).