During this relatively minor ordeal, I asked permission of my guard, using sign language, for permission to relieve my bladder. I hope some day that our government will find the courage to ask what happened to the missing pilots whose names or Escape and Evasion codes and authenticator numbers were photographed by U.S. satellites long after the war was overDavid Allinson(8888), Peter Matthes (GX2527), and Henry Serex (SEREX) to name a few. Peering over Scottys shoulders into the front seat, I could see we were done for. Russian source: 65 MiG-21s, 5 MiG-19s, 75 MiG-17s lost through all causes. Sad to hear that your Dad didnt tell you much about his missions. He is presently a retired airline pilot who originally flew for The Flying Tiger Line in DC-8s and 747s and then MD-11s for FedEx. Others had knives and were, to my complete surprise, cutting the clothing and equipment from my body. The flight call sign was Dogwood and we were number 2. | site designed by. 1972: U.S. claimed 51 MiG-21s destroyed; North Vietnam claimed 53 US aircraft shot down by MiG-21s, including two B-52 Stratofortress bombers. May God bless you. On 3 January 1969 Light Attack Squadron Four (VAL-4) was commissioned at NAS North Island, California and after an intense period of training was transferred to Vietnam. Your story sheds much light on what his experiences must have been like. 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. His first pass was- G D- Chief, 200 long. I was way back in trail, tree top, plenty of time to do 2 football fields short. Do you know how good a F4 sounds from the darn dirt ?!? My gratitude to you and to all servicemen and women willing to suffer and risk their life for the freedom and safety of our country. Btw, Uncle Walter was an anti-American, extreme lefty. Subconsciously I probably realized I was sitting alone in the back seat of a burning airplane. Joe, I fly a POW/MIA flag below Old Glory everydayin honor of you, Scotty, and all the other heroes that sacrificed so much in that war. As for Mr. Fearn, Politics aside, we probably did back the wrong side. If none of the strike flights entered the target area, the MiGs wouldnt come up. November 22, 1966, was selected as the day a massive air strike would be launched against the first of two high-priority targets in North Vietnam (NVN). Wasnt much left for my remaining Six. They would persistently be trying to attack me while the militia men unemotionally fended them off. 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. I knew none of this before he died. But I dont think they fixed it right. But, I stuck to my story answering the same question in the same way each time. Galand himself would be shot down two months later. God Bless them all. When my feet hit the floor with my elbows on my knees at bedside, a feeling of total despair came over me. This fighter aircraft, flown by various pilots, was credited for 14 kills during the Vietnam War. Binh Duong Province. Many thanks for contributing this excellent memoirhope to read more of your writings in future, and wishing you many more years of life aloft: youve sure earned them! A-1E (S/N 52-132649) was flown by Maj. Bernard Fisher on March 10, 1966, when he rescued a fellow pilot shot down over South Vietnam. Everybody has heard by now that John McCain was shot down over North Vietnam, captured, and held as a Prisoner of War; it apparently, to some, is his main qualification to be President. Call signs for each mission were based on time of day. As the nose rises, pitch attitude must be controlled to achieve a nose-high attitude of 10 to 12 degrees. A Shau Valley. SP4 John C. Hughes [G] 1 injured. The American aces flew as members of two-man crews on F-4 Phantoms, reflecting the emergence of air-to-air missiles as the primary weapons of aerial combat. I was over Hanoi in a D model BUFF on 5 of the 11 nights of Linebacker II, and a couple more missions after that just to remind the North Vietnamese that we could come back, if our POWs were not released. But, instead of cutting through my throat, as Id imagined, the blade moved away, cutting the helmet strap. We lost him in 2012. It was moving and changing shape ever so slowly. 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 . I looked around me to see hundreds of people, mostly villagers, including old folks and children. American airmen shot down 196 MiGs137 by the Air Force, 59 by the Navy and the Marine Corpsand sustained 83 losses. Sobering reading for every American ! 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. Names. At this moment, I felt a great calm envelope me. On Oct. 26, McCain would fly his 23rd run over North Vietnam, joining a 20-plane mission to bomb a power plant in the capital city of Hanoi, which had been off-limits to U.S. attacks . Thank You Sir for your service and sacrifice you gave to our Country! Source for F-4 losses is Phantom with U.S. Marine Corps (Joe Baugher), others are unsourced, Production of a total of 380 Mohawks ended in December 1970. Thank you for your service! I even remember glancing around the cockpit at the throttles and the control stick. SSGT Bobby Sacina, JoeThank you fot sharing your experience..We have had a few talks over beers in the past but you never told this storyYou are an American hero!! According to what looks like a reasonably well-sourced page on Wikipedia, a total of 3,032 aircraft were lost to hostile action during the Vietnam War (the actual total was considerably higher, as these numbers don't include Army rotary-wing aircraft), which means at least that many pilots were shot down (yes, some were shot down more than once, but they are way more than offset by the many aircraft that had two pilots). P.463, Migs over North Vietnam: The Vietnam People's Air Force in Combat, 196575, Stackpole Military History, Crashed while attempting emergency landing, Phantom with U.S. Marine Corps (Joe Baugher), List of United States aerial victories of the Vietnam War, South Viet Nam Airforce VNAF Equipment. 71-0316 (355th TFS) operational loss (non-combat) crash in Thailand on 11 January 1973 (pilot rescued) 70-0949 (354th TFW) shot down Laos on 17 February 1973 (Maj J.J. Gallagher rescued) 71-0305 (3rd TFS, 388th TFW) shot down in Cambodia on 4 May 1973 (1Lt T.L. All commenters here need to start this needed movement for due change. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling that thinks nothing is worth war is much worse. 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. It was great to hear your story again. Owing to all the maintenance problems, we did not take off as a flight but departed single-ship and joined up on the KC-135 tanker aircraft over Thailand as a flight of three. The Royal Australian Air Force also flew combat and airlift missions in South Vietnam, as did the Republic of Vietnam. Moments later, the controller asked us to change our squawk, so we could be located for a skyspot drop. Upon arrival at the Hoa Lo prison, I was placed in a dimly-lit room with light green, uneven walls. Scotty gave the Phantom back to me and then it was my turn. It was a moving story. Joe could have saved lives and saved 6 years of his own if had just stayed home. It is hard to imagine just surviving. When naval aviator Porter Halyburton deployed for Vietnam, he left behind his young wife and five-day-old daughter, Dabney. In Reply to B. Fearn by the author of Shot Down Over North Vietnam, War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. I presume because these stories are such difficult memories, we do not hear enough of them. Both Fire and Overheat lights were illuminated and all the amber and red indicators on the telelight panel by Scottys right knee were lit. So that the pilot does not have to be utilizing his attitude indicator for this, the canopy rails happen to be canted downward at just the correct angle making it possible to perform the takeoff maneuver using purely visual references, e.g. 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. It was the darkest moment of an amazing three weeks in Vietnam and I was quite happy to leave that place. There are 58,267 names on The Wall in our nations capital and thats why you are free to voice your misguided opinion, Mr. Walker. A C-47 was the very first USAF aircraft lost in the SEA conflict, C-47B 44-76330 (315th Air Division) on TDY at. We held a mass intelligence briefing at wing HQ. 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. SGT Sam Tenorio [G] 2 injured. Mr. Creccas response (farther below) displays considerably more class than that displayed by b fearn in this particular instance. May God comfort those families who still wait and wonder.]. Soviet General Fesenko, the main Soviet adviser to the North Vietnamese Air Force in 1972, recorded 34 MiG-21s destroyed in 1972. Bent the F-4 around after re-start and headed to his radial fix off Hue Tacan. But, knowing this might be my only chance to talk before the fun and games began anew, I concocted a mission scenario that I hoped would be accepted as truth. Thank you Sir. There were pictures in the Tulsa World of the damage one of the ejection seats did to a womans newly-remodeled bathroom. I was escorted a few hundred feet to one of the village hooches Id seen from above. I enjoyed your write up though I could see you squirming in your seat as it was unfolding. If you do that, itll be your first time in harms way. It was another scene of temporal distortion. 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. I hope that this article and your word of mouth/teachings help other people stand up against stupidity and question the orders of those place in authority. 1st Lieutenant Scotty Wilson, the best stick in [the squadron].. Just to the right of Scottys lifeless figure was the light-brown and white cloud characteristic of an SA-2 detonation! I never made it back . claimed to have shot down 215 planes. Final loss: F-4D 66-8747 (432d TRW) on 29 June 1973. If it means anything, I wanted to tell you that I have travelled extensively though Vietnam for both work and pleasure, and found that Vietnamese people hold no grudge whatsoever to those dark years, younger generations are full of optimism and only look forward for a better life. I knew you had endured being a prisoner but we never talked about it. Came upon this remarkable story after seeing it linked to another by a good guy who once gave me dual instruction in sailplanes. 532 aircraft were lost in combat and 329 more to operational causes, resulting in the deaths of 401 naval aviators, with 64 airmen reported missing and 179 taken prisoner of war. Final loss: A84-228 shot down by two SA-2 SAM missiles on 14 March 1971; Wing Commander F. J. L. 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