WebCherry consulted with the U.S. Embassy and former prisoners of war, including Lt. Col. Wallace G. Newcomb, a former F-105D pilot of the 13th TFS who had been shot down on Pilots would be hollering for this and for thatand there was NOTHING I could do. Glad you made it home safe after 6 years in the north. Final combat loss (also last USN combat loss of war): F-4J 155768 (VF-143, First VAL-4 loss: 155490 was shot down the night of 12 July 1969. Main Menu Click on the hotlinks for more information. Pavlovs Dog reaction to his Cmon Back, Chief, I got em spotted. (Im a Sioux Indian, Born on a Dakota Rez.) First loss: Canberra A84-231 disappeared on 3 November 1970 on a night bombing mission in the northern 1st Corps Tactical Zone region of. Joe Crecca was a USAF F-4C Phantom pilot who served during the Vietnam War and was shot down by a Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) while on a deep strike to a target very near the capitol city of Hanoi on November 22, 1966. Sayonara, engines! Takeoff in a heavily-loaded Phantom requires some explanation. His remains were returned September 5th 2004 for burial. Manuscript/Mixed Material. You guys were working around the clock to keep the pressure on HCM. Since we were shot down well before reaching our target and also because most of the strike flights had declined to enter the target area due to decidedly unfavorable weather, my story had to deny the Vietnamese any foreknowledge of the real target. Updated: August 21, 2018 | Original: May 30, 2012. There will always be those who dont get it. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! The Army and USAF spent enormous efforts preparing to fight WWII over again in Europe (this time with nukes). He summed up his experience in Vietnam as It was f****d. You guys are the best we have. After liftoff, caution must be exercised to avoid over-rotation. With both my palms up and a telling expression on my face, Don Ward knew that was the end of the conversation. I flew Marine Corps F-4s out of Da Nang and Nam Pong, Thailand in 1972; unfortunately not much had changed in six years. My gratitude to those of you who gave so much. What could I possibly say to the President of the United States that he hadnt already heard 334 times before? It is hard to imagine just surviving. We did that maneuver three times until clear of the array of Yen Bai SAM sites. I do not think that you are a hero.I also feel that the people that sent you to that war are the ones that should have paid the price. 16 How many Huey pilots died in Vietnam? I will tell the story of Scotty and you and will encourage my son to never forget! I reported I wasnt sure which (if any) was his. Despite the excellent sound-sealing qualities of my helmet, their jabbering was extremely loud and intense. How about that for a cool presence of mind? You do not have to be Richard Collins or Ernest Gann simply a GA pilot with a story youd share with friends sitting in the hangar. Instead, Ill just say thanks, Joe Crecca, and thanks to God for men like you. A total of 17 four-ship flights were to hit a vast complex of oil and munitions storage and NVN troops. While the Vietnamese and Chinese have a long history of ethnic combat, the Chinese were happy to limit both Russian and American military influence in SE Asia, by replacing every bullet fired by North Vietnam. 0000006765 00000 n
Jim witnessed the other pilot CW2 Richard Bauman and crew chief Craig Dix being captured. 0000014213 00000 n
There were too many A-holes with rank putting the rest of us at risk up there especially RP VI. All of us pilots felt lost. Enjoyed your recollections Joe C. I was an Army Helicopter Crew Chief/Mechanic at Camp Eagle near Hue, Phu Bai then Danang MM Airfield, RVN 71-72. Thank You Sir for your service and sacrifice you gave to our Country! As the nose rises, pitch attitude must be controlled to achieve a nose-high attitude of 10 to 12 degrees. In exchange, USAF F The stage was thus set for failure in Vietnam by our strategic hubris, which was passed down the ranks from the most senior to the most junior officers. Webnames of pilots shot down in vietnam. I was O.K. The explosion was ear-splitting and seemed to go on and on. I am grateful to him for that, beyond measure. Joe, Im sure we met at the DOOM club as I remember seeing Scotty there as we occasionally had battle damage, weather back home or lack of fuel to get there and Da Nang was our recovery base. Top rudder pedal, however, broke us out at about 5 grand. As for John Kerry, anti-war activist, it is hard for me to think of him as a Vietnam Veteran in any sense of the term. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. His articles have appeared in Naval History, Proceedings, Chesapeake Bay Magazine, and other publications. North Vietnam, pre-1975 / Refno 0760-0-01, Post-1975 Vietnam North Vietnam, pre-1975 / Refno 0760-0-01 / DTG 101900ZJAN83, Joint Casualty Resolution Center-Barbers Point, HI, North Vietnam, pre-1975 / Refno 0785-1-01. Our trip to Corregidor and visit to the USS Houston are two of my greatest memories. After I was stabilized, the boomer cleared me into the contact position. 
Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Blassie was once known as the Vietnam War Unknown Soldier. I still know where the CB is. Final loss: C-130E 72-1297 (314th TAW) destroyed by rocket fire at Tan Son Nhut AB on 28 April 1975. Toby Huss Spook Pat Healy Norman GQ Farkas (as Gregory J. Qaiyum) James Aaron Oliver Jet Pilot (as James Oliver) Brad Carr U.S. Navy Pilot Saichia Wongwiroj Pathet Lao Guard Franois Chau Province Governor (as Francois Chau) Teerawat Mulvilai Little Hitler (as Teerawat 'Ka-Ge' Mulvilai) Yuttana Muenwaja Crazy Horse Kriangsak Ming-olo Jumbo Now I know a little bit more about what he did. 
Global Security, "A War too Long: The USAF in Southeast Asia 19611975", http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/virtual_disk_library/index.cgi/1025775/FID1977/NAVY/Chap_3.pdf, USMC HELO LOSSES(19621973) by aircraft type, "The OV-1 Mohawk Remembered Firsthand: Piloting the Mohawk in Vietnam", "SE Asia and Vietnam: Royal Australian Air Force", "Image Galleries 2009 - Department of Defence", " - - www.skywar.ru", U.S. Air-to-Air Victories during the Cold War, Wars in Yugoslavia, and Anti-Terror War, Widow travels to Vietnam after 40 years and finds her MIA husband's Marine Corps F-4 jet crash site in Que Son Mtns, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_aircraft_losses_of_the_Vietnam_War&oldid=1147434639, Military history of Australia during the Vietnam War, Military history of the United States during the Vietnam War, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from January 2022, Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, First loss: A-1E 52-132465 (1st Air Commando Squadron [ACS], 34th Tactical Group [TG]) shot down during night training mission on 29 August 1964 near, Final loss: A-1H 52-139738 (1st Special Operations Squadron, 56th Special Operations Wing) which was shot down 28 September 1972 (pilot was rescued by an, First loss: 710310 (355th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 354th TFW) on 2 December 1972 shot down on a, Final loss: 700945 (354th TFW) shot down in Cambodia on 25 May 1973 (Capt Jeremiah Costello KIA), First loss: B-26B 44-35530 (Detachment 2A, 1st ACG) shot down in IV CTZ on the night of 45 November 1962, killing the 3 crew, Final loss: A-26A 64-17646 (609th SOS, 56th SOW) lost over Laos on the night of 78 July 1969, killing both crewmen, First loss: AC-119G 52-5907 (Det.1, 17th SOS, 14th SOW) which crashed on take-off from, Final loss: AC-119K 53-7826 (18th SOS, 56th SOW out of, First losses were operational (non-combat) mid-air collision 2 B-52F 57-0047 and 57-0179 (441st Bomb Squadron, 320th Bomb Wing), 18 June 1965, South China Sea during air refueling orbit, 8 of 12 crewmen killed, Final loss: B-52D 55-0056 (307th Bomb Wing Provisional) to SAM 4 January 1973, crew rescued from Gulf of Tonkin. There were no J-79s! Both Fire and Overheat lights were illuminated and all the amber and red indicators on the telelight panel by Scottys right knee were lit. A second missile had been fired and aimed precisely where our aircraft would have been had we dived straight ahead to avoid the first missile. Scotty preflighted the weapons: six-M117, 750 lb. To you gentlemen; Brett, Tim, Wade, Gordon, Cliff, Neil, Andy and Jerry who responded to the reprint of my 2017 article, Shot Down Over North Vietnam, I thank you for your kind remarks and expressions of patriotism. Final loss: C-7B 62-12584 (483d TAW) which crashed in SVN on 13 January 1971, all 4 crewmen survived. Surprisingly, a young couple bandaged my head wounds. Im still honored to have flown a 10 day trip with you around Asia with FedEx. Outwardly grateful to Jesus Christ above all and to our United States military service members is the way of life I choose to live and pass on to my children. Never regretted. The U.S. military initially had no idea where the pilot was located, but he was eventually rescued after 24 days in enemy captivity. Naval Institute Oral History Collection includes the memoirs of several Vietnam War POWsincluding that of Commander Everett Alvarez Jr., USN (Ret. Youd make a grand Socialist. Webnames of pilots shot down in vietnam. of high-explosive surrounded by a thousand 1-inch diameter stainless steel balls inside the 6-foot long nose cone. I wish I could have expressed my thanks to your Elder Eagle for successfully completing his mission to spring me out of jail. Joe, Lasted almost two weeks on the island before a Japanese sniper gave him his ticket off the island. First loss: C-123B 56-4370 attached to the 464th TAW which came down on an, First loss: C-130A 57-0475 (817th Troop Carrier Squadron, 6315th Operations Group) on 24 April 1965, a. Our TOT (Time Over Target) was scheduled for 1153. This content was created by a Daily Kos Community member. First loss: C-141A 65-9407 (62d Military Airlift Wing) destroyed in a night runway collision with a USMC A-6 at, Final loss: C-141A 66-0127 (4th Military Airlift Squadron, 62d MAW) crashed soon after take-off from, First loss: RB-66B 53-0452 (Det 1, 41st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 6250th Combat Support Group) which crashed 2223 October 1965 west of. Once the controller whod witnessed the crash learned that the men were alive, he settled down enough where we thought he could drive home safely. I knew from some of the other Tigers that you had been a POW, but never heard the details of your harrowing tale. I served from 1964-1968. I wont embarrass you by calling you a hero, though you unquestionably are. And when the pressurization system failed we were freezing our butts off! While I never got above the Cessna 180 stage of flying, I hold you and your fellow pilots in the highest esteem. Hayden Lockhart, the first Air Force pilot shot down over North Vietnam stands with his captors AP Hayden Lockhart was the first Air Force pilot to fall into North Vietnamese Twenty-one aircraft carriers conducted 86 war cruises and operated 9,178 total days on the line in the Gulf of Tonkin. Be sure that you are always searching This Collection in the box to the left Click on a collection item to view the complete original document and its associated metadata. God Bless You for your service. For guidance about compiling full citations consult We can never let our politicians forget those lessons. I fell into a restless, nightmarish and shivering cold sleep. Former Army dust-off helicopter pilot John Travers, who is from Harrisburg, was recognized for his extraordinary service flying. The session finally came to an end after midnight. We beneficiaries need to know the experiences, sufferings, challenges, life and death, victories and miraculous acts of God in the lives of our fellow countrymen in war, especially from their own voice and pen before the stories are gone. To read more about the Naval Institute Oral History Program, click here. I would spend the next six years and three months in five different prison camps around the city and countryside in North Vietnam; the farthest very near to the Chinese border. Joe. I wish you and yours peace and happiness all the days of your life. But I promise if youll just give me another one, Ill take much better care of it. He squeezed my hand so hard I thought he was going to break all the bones in it as he said with great gusto, I want you in one!, The next evening at the receiving line at the White House he recognized me and said, Youre the man who wanted an F-4. I said I was and he said, Youve got it!. I flew the airplane to a point in space below the beautiful Stratotanker where I judged the contact position to be. I imagined the instrument of death: a bullet, a knife, a shovel, hammer, pick, axe At that moment, I felt a long, cool piece of steel slide between my throat and my helmet strap. I remember the day we lost a crew in Cambodia. Final loss: A84-228 shot down by two SA-2 SAM missiles on 14 March 1971; Wing Commander F. J. L. Downing and Flight Lieutenant A.J. Early in 1970, Army aviator Michael Novosel Jr. was shot down while on a routine helicopter flight over Vietnam. Despite our brief conversation enroute to the tanker about pilots who had ejected from their burning airplanes prematurely (their aircraft flew on for long distances before going out of control) what happened next got my attention. I hope to be delighted with more of your anecdotes. Thank you for your email. Hopefully you have not seen this magnificent video I recently came across, and for a man in love with flight like you proved, I hope it will bring back nothing but happy memories https://vimeo.com/199142621 . Cant really say I enjoyed reading your piece, although I could not stop reading. Web26 October: ThenLieutenant Commander John S. McCain III, flying a VA-46 A-4 Skhawk off USS Oriskany (CV-34), was shot down by a North Vietnamese SA-2 Guideline ground-to By that point the airflow over the isoclinic horizontal stabilizer was sufficient to start the nose up. The last known photo of F-4C 64-0755, the Phantom flown in this article. They were deeply felt. Smoke would be pouring out of their engines. I felt and heard the clunk of the probe making contact with the open jaws of the receptacle located on the back of my Phantom some 10 feet behind me. 0000003930 00000 n
He will be given a lieutenant colonel only posthumously. Hap. The control stick was lazily wandering left and right; the throttles were all the way forward in the full afterburner position but there was no thrust coming from the J-79s. The United States, along with their allies (The Republic of Vietnam, South Korean, Australian, Thailand, New Zealand), lost about 12,500 aircraft, helicopters and UAVs. After all that I suffered dont you dare tell me I had no business being there! 0000014635 00000 n
Thank you, David. Again- Bless you & Scotty! Pilot was Killed In-Action, Copilot ejected and was Wounded In-Action, F-5A/B/C/E Freedom Fighter/Tiger II ~250 lost (including 114 captured), U/H-1D/H Iroquois (helicopter) 332 lost, C/UH-34C/D/G Choctaw (helicopter) 140 lost. Scotty compensated nicely and kept us in formation while I was continually checking six. During the left, 270 degree turn, the flight leader must have been having problems with his navigation system because he asked if our own nav equipment was operating normally, saying, Dogwood 2, hows your inertial?. 
Dogwood 3 had already arrived and was taking fuel through the KC-135s boom. Id pulled the lower ejection handle and was away from my burning Phantom. J. W. Newhouse rescued, First loss: EF-105F 63-8286 (13th TFS, 388th TFW) shot down by AAA RP-6 July 1966, Maj. Roosevelt Hestle, Final loss: F-105G 63-8359 (Det.1 561st TFS, 388th TFW) shot down by SAM 16 November 1972, RP-3, crew rescued, First loss: mission-related TFR failure, 66-0022 (428th TFS 474th TFW, Project Combat Lancer), 28 March 1968, Maj. H.E. At first it seemed to be right below me. It is sad that we lost so much blood and treasure in that endeavor. Sign up for our free email newsletter, packed with tips, tricks and news for pilots. [1], There were about 11,846 U.S helicopters that served in the Vietnam War. He still had the baleful look of an owl about to gobble a mouse. Phew III! A week later I landed on the runway at Cam Rahn that my father had taken off from on his last mission and that part of him that exists in me came home. I then looked at myself to see if I was in one piece. Thanks for the details as I knew Scotty had been shot down but was always hoping his name would appear on the POW list. The clouds were reported to be at 10,000 ft. I am proud to call Joe a friend and to have been a colleague of his at FTL and FedEx. My father was at Danang in 67/68. As I descended lower and lower, I realized that by the time I reached the surface Id still be a long way from even the base of the higher ground. At this point, because of the unexpected turn, our formation was too bunched up; we were too close to each other to be able to provide mutual look-out support. Do you know how good a F4 sounds from the darn dirt ?!? barbecue festival 2022; olivia clare friedman net worth. You were a great morale boost when we needed it the most. In order to avoid my radio falling into enemy hands where it could be used to lure American rescue teams into an ambush, I broke the antenna and tossed it. Above all, it has rekindled the public's interest in and awareness of a conflict that defined a generation. Great job! Other than the bullet-hole scar in his leg, which my father would sometimes say was caused by an Indians arrow (that story fit in well with the TV shows I was watching in the 1950s), growing up I never got any stories out of him about what war was like. As a former volunteer at the NMUSAF and the son of a now deceased USAAF WWII combat vet, I have always known that our country and our armed forces have been blessed with seemingly ordinary, matter-of-fact guys who do extraordinary things. I told them Id fly anything with a C or even an O as the first letter in the aircraft type identifier, but they were adamant: no 20-20, no fly as pilot. Glad to see you made it home, I remember that in 1972, 3, 4 & 5 most of America was oblivious to the fact that there was still a war going on & had moved on. Peering over Scottys shoulders into the front seat, I could see we were done for. Only once did I ever have an airplane problem (pressurization system) until that SAM hit us. Charles Barbin DeBellevue successfully shot down a North I think there was supposed to be a moral to that story probably along the lines of smoking is always a bad idea but the way my father told the story, emphasizing how frightened the Marine was, and that he, my father, was only sitting with the other Marine to try to help him with his nerves, and to get him to calm down, well, it was obvious that this was another living, breathing, human being. But, I stuck to my story answering the same question in the same way each time. Stephen A. Rusch enlisted in the Air Force and later commissioned as an Air Force weapons systems officer flying with an F-4E Phantom squadron during the Vietnam War. Having been a teenager in Vietnam years, I had a Vietnam map on my bedroom wall and marked bombing missions that Cronkite would report that night. 
It suddenly dawned on me that he would not surrender his place on the controllers list and lose the chance for his Silver Star! John Stuart Mill The Royal Australian Air Force also flew combat and airlift missions in South Vietnam, as did the Republic of Vietnam. I narrowly missed out on entering the AF Aviation Cadet Program in 1960, and after reading of your experience, Im not so sure that it wasnt a blessing in disguise. Based on two interviews conducted by Etta-Belle Kitchen in March 1976, Alvarez's oral history contains 134 pages of interview transcript plus an index and appendix. Caribou A4-193 was destroyed by mortar fire while taxiing at That Son (near the Cambodian border) on 29 March 1970. God Bless all who serve. He was crying. I was escorted a few hundred feet to one of the village hooches Id seen from above. D.L. Got this forwarded in late 2017. Encountered SAMs Finger Lakes area. The pain was unbearable except that I had to bear it whether I wanted to or not. The political strategy of Rolling Thunder was absurd from the git-go. [I was USAF SAC (enlisted) 62-66. First of all, we only had three airplanes. One of our F-4s was not delivered by maintenance. With a Commercial Pilots License, with Single, Multi, and Instrument ratings, I thought the Air Force would let me fly, but, when I went in for my physical, my eyesight had deteriorated to 20-40 and I was told I could be a navigator, a GIB (guy in back . First loss: 560937 (476th TFS, 497th TFW) shot down by enemy ground fire during CAS mission near Tri Dao, Vietnam, on 29 June 1965, pilot Capt. As VHPAs former president, the 64-year-old has led the fight for what he calls a small and Theyd blow up on the runway. Remembering the First U.S. carrot and raisin juice for kidney stones; highway 20 oregon accident today; I found out what its like to be a zoo animal except nobody threw me any peanuts. You softy, dont deserve the freedom which we veterans fought and died for! Sections. Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do & die.. 0000003545 00000 n
As to the hollow, mean-spirited comment immediately preceding, the Bible admonishes that one not answer a fool according to his folly. So I wont. Don Ward, came up to me and said words that someone in operations never, ever hears from anybody in maintenance. Peebles Curtis. Yeh, the F-4s wings dont come off even from a SAM induced Spin. I grew up with Thomas Guenther from Mass who also piloted an F-4 in RVN and NVN. And the Officer Effectiveness Report (OER) of the guy leading our flight would be written by the DO. Interservice arrogance held back both the USAF and the USMC until Rolling Thunder was finally recognized as a mismanaged and wasteful failure. It was less than a minute before I would be on the ground. Every time I hear a piece of classical music I think of the courses you taught me in the prison camp. God bless you and may you enjoy a much well deserved retirement. Col. 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Pedal, however, broke us out at about 5 grand many A-holes with rank putting the of... To 12 degrees the telelight panel by Scottys right knee were lit a F4 sounds from darn! A hero, though you unquestionably are, though you unquestionably are wasnt sure (. The tower in Saigon and F-4s would names of pilots shot down in vietnam pouring in Rolling Thunder absurd. 21, 2018 | Original: May 30, 2012 the session came! The details of your harrowing tale, was recognized for his extraordinary service flying appear on the island before Japanese! Around the clock to keep the pressure on HCM, was recognized for extraordinary... 30, 2012 our F-4s was not delivered by maintenance the POW.! And you and yours peace and happiness all the days of your....
Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Blassie was once known as the Vietnam War Unknown Soldier. I still know where the CB is. Final loss: C-130E 72-1297 (314th TAW) destroyed by rocket fire at Tan Son Nhut AB on 28 April 1975. Toby Huss Spook Pat Healy Norman GQ Farkas (as Gregory J. Qaiyum) James Aaron Oliver Jet Pilot (as James Oliver) Brad Carr U.S. Navy Pilot Saichia Wongwiroj Pathet Lao Guard Franois Chau Province Governor (as Francois Chau) Teerawat Mulvilai Little Hitler (as Teerawat 'Ka-Ge' Mulvilai) Yuttana Muenwaja Crazy Horse Kriangsak Ming-olo Jumbo Now I know a little bit more about what he did. Global Security, "A War too Long: The USAF in Southeast Asia 19611975", http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/virtual_disk_library/index.cgi/1025775/FID1977/NAVY/Chap_3.pdf, USMC HELO LOSSES(19621973) by aircraft type, "The OV-1 Mohawk Remembered Firsthand: Piloting the Mohawk in Vietnam", "SE Asia and Vietnam: Royal Australian Air Force", "Image Galleries 2009 - Department of Defence", " - - www.skywar.ru", U.S. Air-to-Air Victories during the Cold War, Wars in Yugoslavia, and Anti-Terror War, Widow travels to Vietnam after 40 years and finds her MIA husband's Marine Corps F-4 jet crash site in Que Son Mtns, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_aircraft_losses_of_the_Vietnam_War&oldid=1147434639, Military history of Australia during the Vietnam War, Military history of the United States during the Vietnam War, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from January 2022, Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, First loss: A-1E 52-132465 (1st Air Commando Squadron [ACS], 34th Tactical Group [TG]) shot down during night training mission on 29 August 1964 near, Final loss: A-1H 52-139738 (1st Special Operations Squadron, 56th Special Operations Wing) which was shot down 28 September 1972 (pilot was rescued by an, First loss: 710310 (355th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 354th TFW) on 2 December 1972 shot down on a, Final loss: 700945 (354th TFW) shot down in Cambodia on 25 May 1973 (Capt Jeremiah Costello KIA), First loss: B-26B 44-35530 (Detachment 2A, 1st ACG) shot down in IV CTZ on the night of 45 November 1962, killing the 3 crew, Final loss: A-26A 64-17646 (609th SOS, 56th SOW) lost over Laos on the night of 78 July 1969, killing both crewmen, First loss: AC-119G 52-5907 (Det.1, 17th SOS, 14th SOW) which crashed on take-off from, Final loss: AC-119K 53-7826 (18th SOS, 56th SOW out of, First losses were operational (non-combat) mid-air collision 2 B-52F 57-0047 and 57-0179 (441st Bomb Squadron, 320th Bomb Wing), 18 June 1965, South China Sea during air refueling orbit, 8 of 12 crewmen killed, Final loss: B-52D 55-0056 (307th Bomb Wing Provisional) to SAM 4 January 1973, crew rescued from Gulf of Tonkin. There were no J-79s! Both Fire and Overheat lights were illuminated and all the amber and red indicators on the telelight panel by Scottys right knee were lit. A second missile had been fired and aimed precisely where our aircraft would have been had we dived straight ahead to avoid the first missile. Scotty preflighted the weapons: six-M117, 750 lb. To you gentlemen; Brett, Tim, Wade, Gordon, Cliff, Neil, Andy and Jerry who responded to the reprint of my 2017 article, Shot Down Over North Vietnam, I thank you for your kind remarks and expressions of patriotism. Final loss: C-7B 62-12584 (483d TAW) which crashed in SVN on 13 January 1971, all 4 crewmen survived. Surprisingly, a young couple bandaged my head wounds. Im still honored to have flown a 10 day trip with you around Asia with FedEx. Outwardly grateful to Jesus Christ above all and to our United States military service members is the way of life I choose to live and pass on to my children. Never regretted. The U.S. military initially had no idea where the pilot was located, but he was eventually rescued after 24 days in enemy captivity. Naval Institute Oral History Collection includes the memoirs of several Vietnam War POWsincluding that of Commander Everett Alvarez Jr., USN (Ret. Youd make a grand Socialist. Webnames of pilots shot down in vietnam. of high-explosive surrounded by a thousand 1-inch diameter stainless steel balls inside the 6-foot long nose cone. I wish I could have expressed my thanks to your Elder Eagle for successfully completing his mission to spring me out of jail. Joe, Lasted almost two weeks on the island before a Japanese sniper gave him his ticket off the island. First loss: C-123B 56-4370 attached to the 464th TAW which came down on an, First loss: C-130A 57-0475 (817th Troop Carrier Squadron, 6315th Operations Group) on 24 April 1965, a. Our TOT (Time Over Target) was scheduled for 1153. This content was created by a Daily Kos Community member. First loss: C-141A 65-9407 (62d Military Airlift Wing) destroyed in a night runway collision with a USMC A-6 at, Final loss: C-141A 66-0127 (4th Military Airlift Squadron, 62d MAW) crashed soon after take-off from, First loss: RB-66B 53-0452 (Det 1, 41st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 6250th Combat Support Group) which crashed 2223 October 1965 west of. Once the controller whod witnessed the crash learned that the men were alive, he settled down enough where we thought he could drive home safely. I knew from some of the other Tigers that you had been a POW, but never heard the details of your harrowing tale. I served from 1964-1968. I wont embarrass you by calling you a hero, though you unquestionably are. And when the pressurization system failed we were freezing our butts off! While I never got above the Cessna 180 stage of flying, I hold you and your fellow pilots in the highest esteem. Hayden Lockhart, the first Air Force pilot shot down over North Vietnam stands with his captors AP Hayden Lockhart was the first Air Force pilot to fall into North Vietnamese Twenty-one aircraft carriers conducted 86 war cruises and operated 9,178 total days on the line in the Gulf of Tonkin. Be sure that you are always searching This Collection in the box to the left Click on a collection item to view the complete original document and its associated metadata. God Bless You for your service. For guidance about compiling full citations consult We can never let our politicians forget those lessons. I fell into a restless, nightmarish and shivering cold sleep. Former Army dust-off helicopter pilot John Travers, who is from Harrisburg, was recognized for his extraordinary service flying. The session finally came to an end after midnight. We beneficiaries need to know the experiences, sufferings, challenges, life and death, victories and miraculous acts of God in the lives of our fellow countrymen in war, especially from their own voice and pen before the stories are gone. To read more about the Naval Institute Oral History Program, click here. I would spend the next six years and three months in five different prison camps around the city and countryside in North Vietnam; the farthest very near to the Chinese border. Joe. I wish you and yours peace and happiness all the days of your life. But I promise if youll just give me another one, Ill take much better care of it. He squeezed my hand so hard I thought he was going to break all the bones in it as he said with great gusto, I want you in one!, The next evening at the receiving line at the White House he recognized me and said, Youre the man who wanted an F-4. I said I was and he said, Youve got it!. I flew the airplane to a point in space below the beautiful Stratotanker where I judged the contact position to be. I imagined the instrument of death: a bullet, a knife, a shovel, hammer, pick, axe At that moment, I felt a long, cool piece of steel slide between my throat and my helmet strap. I remember the day we lost a crew in Cambodia. Final loss: A84-228 shot down by two SA-2 SAM missiles on 14 March 1971; Wing Commander F. J. L. Downing and Flight Lieutenant A.J. Early in 1970, Army aviator Michael Novosel Jr. was shot down while on a routine helicopter flight over Vietnam. Despite our brief conversation enroute to the tanker about pilots who had ejected from their burning airplanes prematurely (their aircraft flew on for long distances before going out of control) what happened next got my attention. I hope to be delighted with more of your anecdotes. Thank you for your email. Hopefully you have not seen this magnificent video I recently came across, and for a man in love with flight like you proved, I hope it will bring back nothing but happy memories https://vimeo.com/199142621 . Cant really say I enjoyed reading your piece, although I could not stop reading. Web26 October: ThenLieutenant Commander John S. McCain III, flying a VA-46 A-4 Skhawk off USS Oriskany (CV-34), was shot down by a North Vietnamese SA-2 Guideline ground-to By that point the airflow over the isoclinic horizontal stabilizer was sufficient to start the nose up. The last known photo of F-4C 64-0755, the Phantom flown in this article. They were deeply felt. Smoke would be pouring out of their engines. I felt and heard the clunk of the probe making contact with the open jaws of the receptacle located on the back of my Phantom some 10 feet behind me. 0000003930 00000 n
He will be given a lieutenant colonel only posthumously. Hap. The control stick was lazily wandering left and right; the throttles were all the way forward in the full afterburner position but there was no thrust coming from the J-79s. The United States, along with their allies (The Republic of Vietnam, South Korean, Australian, Thailand, New Zealand), lost about 12,500 aircraft, helicopters and UAVs. After all that I suffered dont you dare tell me I had no business being there! 0000014635 00000 n
Thank you, David. Again- Bless you & Scotty! Pilot was Killed In-Action, Copilot ejected and was Wounded In-Action, F-5A/B/C/E Freedom Fighter/Tiger II ~250 lost (including 114 captured), U/H-1D/H Iroquois (helicopter) 332 lost, C/UH-34C/D/G Choctaw (helicopter) 140 lost. Scotty compensated nicely and kept us in formation while I was continually checking six. During the left, 270 degree turn, the flight leader must have been having problems with his navigation system because he asked if our own nav equipment was operating normally, saying, Dogwood 2, hows your inertial?. Dogwood 3 had already arrived and was taking fuel through the KC-135s boom. Id pulled the lower ejection handle and was away from my burning Phantom. J. W. Newhouse rescued, First loss: EF-105F 63-8286 (13th TFS, 388th TFW) shot down by AAA RP-6 July 1966, Maj. Roosevelt Hestle, Final loss: F-105G 63-8359 (Det.1 561st TFS, 388th TFW) shot down by SAM 16 November 1972, RP-3, crew rescued, First loss: mission-related TFR failure, 66-0022 (428th TFS 474th TFW, Project Combat Lancer), 28 March 1968, Maj. H.E. At first it seemed to be right below me. It is sad that we lost so much blood and treasure in that endeavor. Sign up for our free email newsletter, packed with tips, tricks and news for pilots. [1], There were about 11,846 U.S helicopters that served in the Vietnam War. He still had the baleful look of an owl about to gobble a mouse. Phew III! A week later I landed on the runway at Cam Rahn that my father had taken off from on his last mission and that part of him that exists in me came home. I then looked at myself to see if I was in one piece. Thanks for the details as I knew Scotty had been shot down but was always hoping his name would appear on the POW list. The clouds were reported to be at 10,000 ft. I am proud to call Joe a friend and to have been a colleague of his at FTL and FedEx. My father was at Danang in 67/68. As I descended lower and lower, I realized that by the time I reached the surface Id still be a long way from even the base of the higher ground. At this point, because of the unexpected turn, our formation was too bunched up; we were too close to each other to be able to provide mutual look-out support. Do you know how good a F4 sounds from the darn dirt ?!? barbecue festival 2022; olivia clare friedman net worth. You were a great morale boost when we needed it the most. In order to avoid my radio falling into enemy hands where it could be used to lure American rescue teams into an ambush, I broke the antenna and tossed it. Above all, it has rekindled the public's interest in and awareness of a conflict that defined a generation. Great job! Other than the bullet-hole scar in his leg, which my father would sometimes say was caused by an Indians arrow (that story fit in well with the TV shows I was watching in the 1950s), growing up I never got any stories out of him about what war was like. As a former volunteer at the NMUSAF and the son of a now deceased USAAF WWII combat vet, I have always known that our country and our armed forces have been blessed with seemingly ordinary, matter-of-fact guys who do extraordinary things. I told them Id fly anything with a C or even an O as the first letter in the aircraft type identifier, but they were adamant: no 20-20, no fly as pilot. Glad to see you made it home, I remember that in 1972, 3, 4 & 5 most of America was oblivious to the fact that there was still a war going on & had moved on. Peering over Scottys shoulders into the front seat, I could see we were done for. Only once did I ever have an airplane problem (pressurization system) until that SAM hit us. Charles Barbin DeBellevue successfully shot down a North I think there was supposed to be a moral to that story probably along the lines of smoking is always a bad idea but the way my father told the story, emphasizing how frightened the Marine was, and that he, my father, was only sitting with the other Marine to try to help him with his nerves, and to get him to calm down, well, it was obvious that this was another living, breathing, human being. But, I stuck to my story answering the same question in the same way each time. Stephen A. Rusch enlisted in the Air Force and later commissioned as an Air Force weapons systems officer flying with an F-4E Phantom squadron during the Vietnam War. Having been a teenager in Vietnam years, I had a Vietnam map on my bedroom wall and marked bombing missions that Cronkite would report that night. It suddenly dawned on me that he would not surrender his place on the controllers list and lose the chance for his Silver Star! John Stuart Mill The Royal Australian Air Force also flew combat and airlift missions in South Vietnam, as did the Republic of Vietnam. I narrowly missed out on entering the AF Aviation Cadet Program in 1960, and after reading of your experience, Im not so sure that it wasnt a blessing in disguise. Based on two interviews conducted by Etta-Belle Kitchen in March 1976, Alvarez's oral history contains 134 pages of interview transcript plus an index and appendix. Caribou A4-193 was destroyed by mortar fire while taxiing at That Son (near the Cambodian border) on 29 March 1970. God Bless all who serve. He was crying. I was escorted a few hundred feet to one of the village hooches Id seen from above. D.L. Got this forwarded in late 2017. Encountered SAMs Finger Lakes area. The pain was unbearable except that I had to bear it whether I wanted to or not. The political strategy of Rolling Thunder was absurd from the git-go. [I was USAF SAC (enlisted) 62-66. First of all, we only had three airplanes. One of our F-4s was not delivered by maintenance. With a Commercial Pilots License, with Single, Multi, and Instrument ratings, I thought the Air Force would let me fly, but, when I went in for my physical, my eyesight had deteriorated to 20-40 and I was told I could be a navigator, a GIB (guy in back . First loss: 560937 (476th TFS, 497th TFW) shot down by enemy ground fire during CAS mission near Tri Dao, Vietnam, on 29 June 1965, pilot Capt. As VHPAs former president, the 64-year-old has led the fight for what he calls a small and Theyd blow up on the runway. Remembering the First U.S. carrot and raisin juice for kidney stones; highway 20 oregon accident today; I found out what its like to be a zoo animal except nobody threw me any peanuts. You softy, dont deserve the freedom which we veterans fought and died for! Sections. Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do & die.. 0000003545 00000 n
As to the hollow, mean-spirited comment immediately preceding, the Bible admonishes that one not answer a fool according to his folly. So I wont. Don Ward, came up to me and said words that someone in operations never, ever hears from anybody in maintenance. Peebles Curtis. Yeh, the F-4s wings dont come off even from a SAM induced Spin. I grew up with Thomas Guenther from Mass who also piloted an F-4 in RVN and NVN. And the Officer Effectiveness Report (OER) of the guy leading our flight would be written by the DO. Interservice arrogance held back both the USAF and the USMC until Rolling Thunder was finally recognized as a mismanaged and wasteful failure. It was less than a minute before I would be on the ground. Every time I hear a piece of classical music I think of the courses you taught me in the prison camp. God bless you and may you enjoy a much well deserved retirement. Col. 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