WASHINGTON, Jan. 27The State Department tonight released the list of American civilians acknowledged by North Vietnam as having been captured in South Vietnam during the Vietnam war. COMPUTER RECORDS OF AMERICAN PILOTS SHOT DOWN DURING THE VIETNAM WAR. BIG LAUGH there. ON December 5, 6, and 7, 1969 a massive 3-day rescue effort was conducted for the 2-Man crew of anF-4C Phantom (Callsign Boxer 22) shot down in Mu Gia Pass,The Deadliest Air Space in History of Air Warfare.. R. Cole rescued, Final loss: 57-0922 (435th TFS, 8th TFW) operational loss due to engine failure on 14 May 1967 in Thailand, pilot name unknown, survived, First loss: 624371 (36th TFS, 6441st TFW) written off from battle damage over Laos 14 August 1964, at Korat, Thailand, Final loss: 610153 (44th TFS, 355th TFW) shot down Laos 23 September 1970, pilot Capt. Another remarkable hero of the Thunderchief era was Lt. Karl W. Richter. The last two men were fighter pilots a Navy A-4 pilot and a USAF F-100 pilot. The Republic of Vietnam lost 1,018 aircraft and helicopters from January 1964 to September 1973. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Im headed back to Port Orange after a fantastic adventure in San Diego with some of my old fighter squadron friends and others from my days at NAS Miramar. 1. Regardless of your assessment of the Thunderchief, the odds were always stacked against it. My telephone is. I also wish they had come to the O-Club for reunions with some of our old navy buddies (I saw several from the two reserve F-4 squadrons at Miramar in the early 70s) but they didnt. Pilot of F-4C shot down and crashed at sea offshore of Qung Bnh Province: Presumptive finding of death: July 26: Brazik, Richard A: 1st Lieutenant: This is the story of Major Robert Lodge and Captain Roger Locher getting their third MiG kill on May 10, 1972, then getting shot down by a MiG. Thats a win, if you think thats a win., McPeak continues, Given the limitations that we imposed on ourselves there, there was no way we could win., By the time McPeak arrived in Vietnam, he says, the U.S. government was so heavily committed that it had become a matter of our prestige, and we had to save face. A pilot could do everything perfectly to hit the target, but where the bombs actually landed depended on the wind. Sections. The. Is there any truth to that allegation? Secretary of State Rusk answered: Yes. Paul was picked up by a MacDill rescue helicopter, and flown to the MacDill base hospital. As we approached the target (we had no clue what the target was) the loran F-4 alerted us to get ready to pickle. Pickle was the term that meant press the bomb release button. Why does the Library of Congress offer fee-based research services? COMPUTER RECORDS OF AMERICAN PILOTS SHOT DOWN DURING THE VIETNAM WAR. And if I heard it correctly, all the Mig-17s the Viets flew came from China too. Dan Autrey made an audio tape of the mission with Gary during which they were attacked by the two MiGs. It is a day when we recalibrate what it means to be an American. Lance ejected from his stricken F-4 on November 9, 1967 over Laos near the border of North Vietnam. Colonel John Markle (one MiG kill) of the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron out of Udorn Air Base, Thailand, in 1972 and share their experiences flying the F-4 in aerial combat over North Vietnam. The answer is NO, it brought down only ONE Mig; and the guy who it brought down told the story. 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. Officially, US aircraft didn't start getting shot down until I would certainly appreciate it if you would publish this letter or some other suitable notice in your MIG SWEEP as request any of your RRVFPA members who were involved in any of the incidents mentioned herein to contact me. I was picked up the U.S. Coast Guard. I thoroughly enjoyed both the days I spent with the Mig drivers and the events were well planned and superbly executedthe host aircrew did great jobs making things happen behind the scenes. His stories about Thud missions over North Vietnam in 1965 are incredible. By Edmund Duncan May 31, 2022. They DID provide all the Mig-21s the Vietnamese flew but they didnt actually fight against usexcept once! It is already difficult to sort through accurate records about Captain Samuel E. Waters. One hundred fifteen brave American men gave their lives on Hill 875 for what? 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. Only 90 of 99 planned B-52s sorties were effective and six BUFFs were shot down. See Richard Keyts article called Thank You Martin Baker., Iservedonboard the USS Chicago(CG-11)in 1971 and1972in the Tonkin Gulf whereI was the Air Intercept Controller Supervisor. This is a video of a fabulous and very informative speech made recently by former USAF Captain Gary Barnhill who talks about his USAF career flying the F-84, the F-100 and the F-105. Thats when Joe Lee Burns organized a mini reunion of the 35th in memory of Jim Beatty. 5. During the Vietnam War, thousands of U.S. aircraft were lost to antiaircraft artillery (AAA), surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), and fighter interceptors (MiG)s. The great majority of U.S. combat losses in all areas of Southeast Asia were to AAA. The toll among those who flew for a living: 2,002 pilots killed and 2,704 crew chiefs and gunners dead. At the time of the kill, the estimated flight parameters were: F-4 mach 1.2+ (800+ kts/hour); MiG-19 0.77 mach (500 kts/hour); altitude above terrain 500 feet; slant range 200-300 feet; and flight path crossing angle 90 degrees. The toll among those who flew for a living: 2,002 pilots killed and 2,704 crew chiefs and gunners dead. To track an F-4 the target had to be in the intersection of these two radar beams. In December 1971 Ibeganproviding critical information and guidancetoair force fighterswhichwerebeing. Navigator on B-26B #44-35566, shot down while conducting air strike: Killed in action, body not recovered: January 14: Mitchell, Carl B: Major: USAF: 1st Air Commando Squadron: South Vietnam, ng Nai Province: Pilot of B-26B #44-35566, shot down while conducting air strike: Killed in action, body not recovered: January 18: Metoyer, Bryford G Two Gs and one D were lost in the first wave and an identical number were downed in the third wave. When the loran F-4 said pickle all eight F-4s released 12 Mark 82 five hundred pound bombs. Lt.Col. How many Huey helicopters were lost in Vietnam? Over Vietnam, F-100 pilots flew fast and low. If we had small losses compared to the enemys large losses we won the battle. Several were able to identify each other so they met at the two front tables and with the aid of interpreters got their stories and events synced up. On September 12, 1972, Major Retterbush and Lt Daniel Autrey took down a MiG-21 using the M61A1 20mm automatic gun. Suddenly, an intensely bright white light outshone the orange jet fuel blaze as the high explosives in four hydrogen bombs in the bomb bay detonated from the shock of impact. Russian source: 65 MiG-21s, 5 MiG-19s, 75 MiG-17s lost through all causes. Be well. Their presentations at the Hill Aerospace Museum as part of the Plane Talks series were recorded in three parts. He seemed a little embarrassed to be a 19 pilot. I saw that quickly, and anybody with eyeballs could see it., The U.S. decision to fight using conventional means also made victory impossible, McPeak says. Gary, while TDY to Korat from Kunsan, downed a North Vietnamese MiG-21 on September 12 and one on October 8, 1972. Crash Location: Near Ap Bac, Chau Doc Province, South Vietnam. It was, according to some records, the first day the U.S. launched airstrikes on the capital city of Hanoi. Paul Poppe was the overall mission commander and the aircraft commander of Where 01. Osprey 2001, No. Tom Demerly served in an intelligence gathering unit as a member of the U.S. Army and Michigan National Guard. The only thing General Westmoreland cared about was the body count. The episode's plot centered on two new prisoners entering Stalag 13 (in this episode, referred to as Camp 13), Lieutenant Carter (played by Hovis), who escapes into the camp, and Wagner (played by Noam Pitlik), who is actually a German spy posing as an Allied prisoner. Paul said the stick would not move fore and aft and asked me to pull as well. 2. The courtyard of the prison was sectioned so that the area outside of each cell was partitioned by bamboo and tar paper, enabling the North Vietnamese prison officials to keep the more recently captured prisoners, FNGs, isolated from those captured years earlier in the war, FOGs (feel free to use your imagination regarding the initials). What follows below is the text of my reply to the above comment. How many American bombers were shot down in ww2? The basic concept of Fast FAC was fulfilling the requirement for forward air controllers in a high threat area. The Republic of Vietnam lost 1,018 aircraft and helicopters from January 1964 to September 1973. During Operation Linebacker II, 741 B-52 sorties were dispatched to bomb North Vietnam; 729 completed their missions. B-52s dropped 15,237 tons of ordnance on 18 industrial and 14 military targets (including eight SAM sites) while fighter-bombers added another 5,000 tons of bombs to the tally. More to arrive in the next days. Demerly studied journalism at Henry Ford College in Dearborn, Michigan. two weeksOver 10% of Vietnam casualties were helicopter crew members, and most of those were the door gunners that protected the helicopter, its crew, and its transports, from their exposed position. Heh-Heh..Sure. He began training to fly fighter aircraft after graduation and subsequently volunteered to go to Vietnam. Is It Hard To Get Into Kent State University? Even though the F6F did not start reaching Naval and Marine units in the Pacific until late 1943, once it did it came in prodigious numbers. At this time the United States and Vietnam had not yet reestablished diplomatic relations. I asked him if he had stopped counting missions or if he knew how many hed flown, expecting to hear a sum of several hundred. Some sources will state about 2,200 UH-1 Iroquis (Huey) Crash Location: Into Sea off southwest coast of Vietnam near Rach Gia and Ca Mau. I landed safely, grabbed my survival radio and smoke flares and used my helmet as a basket and headed East toward the water. He also stated that there were no MiG-17 aces. He masterfully evaded both the Phantoms until (I guess) the F-4s got so low on fuel they had to knock it off and departed the area. 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. The operation became the most intense air/ground battle waged during the Cold War period; it was the most difficult such campaign fought by the United States since the aerial bombardment of Germany during World War II. I mean, we could have nuked Hanoi, and game over. He was a charming fellow and I decided that from his stories the day before and his animated conduct now he was the most mischievous of all the Viets. I asked about engagements and he said hed had 25 engagements, only 20 of which he would consider true dogfights. After spending 3,113 days in captivity, he was released on 12 February 1973 as part of the first group of American POWs repatriated under Operation Homecoming . Elizabeth Hartsook, Stuart Slade. Not the United States, the Soviet Union, or China had the most strongly guarded air space in 1966. . The first and only fatal crash by an RAAF aircraft in Thailand. It felt GREAT to have a kind of cathartic experience with Zoong and it was really fun to watch the other Americans in the group as they intermingled and interrelated with the Vietnamese. Heroes who set the highest bar for selflessness, honor and sacrifice. I told Tom that Bob had been cooped up in Hanoi for 7+ years so Id really like to see Bob fly it. Our navy Phantom crew who made ace, Randy Duke Cunningham and his RIO, Willy Driscoll, were there. Samuel E. Waters was that his image, and the similar images of men, fighter pilots, like him shaped my impression of what a real man truly was. The Thunderbirds only flew the F-105 in six shows before they switched back to the North American F-100D Super Sabre. jets (MiG17 & MiG21). He said that was the best advise he had gotten so far and I told him I normally gave out advice too younger and lesser experienced aviatorsand there wasnt even a charge for it. We had a grand time reuniting with old friends and around six the Viets showed up and a few minutes later the Blues showed up. Updated History of the Federal Research Division December 2021 Catherine Schwartzstein Editor Updated History December 2021 Introduction The Federal Research Division (FRD) within the Library of Congress provides directed research, analysis, and Vietnam-Era Prisoner-Of-War/Missing-In-Action Database, CASUALTY RESOLUTION INFORMATION TO BE PASSED TO SRV, INITIAL ANALYSIS DATA, PMSEA3 CIRCLE SEARCH, NAMES LIST, Articles and Essays | Vietnam-Era Prisoner-of-War/Missing-in-Action Database | Digital Collections, Search Steps | Articles and Essays | Vietnam-Era Prisoner-of-War/Missing-in-Action Database | Digital Collections, Viewing Metadata and Original Document | Articles and Essays | Vietnam-Era Prisoner-of-War/Missing-in-Action Database | Digital Collections, COMPUTER RECORDS OF AMERICAN PILOTS SHOT DOWN DURING THE VIETNAM WAR, NAMES AND INCIDENTS LIST, COMPUTER SEARCH, POW-F/H, CRS-HSY REPORT. My flight lined up on the other side of the loran F-4. Some sources have included other crewmen aboard those shot Who Was The Last American Soldier To Leave Vietnam? Former Navy Commander Dick Nelson got a message from former Commander J.B. Souder in which Commander Souder wrote about meeting with thirteen former MiG pilots in San Diego, California, on September 21, 2017. [5], Claimed by VPAF: 154 MiG aircraft lost through all causes, including 131 in air combat (includes 63 MiG-17s, 8 MiG-19s and 60 MiG-21s)[21][22]. UN pilots claim 840 aircraft shot down during the war, while Chinese, Soviet, and North Korean sources indicate only 600 were lost among the three nations, including non-combat losses. The impact leveled seven houses and destroyed two cars. Samuel E. Waters and Lt. Karl W. Richter, but for every service person we remember on Memorial Day in the U.S. who gave their lives for freedom and security. Theo wrote I drove from Utrecht, Holland to Eisenstatt, Germany to visit the Retterbush family. Another interesting snippet was that the North Koreans had asked the Vietnamese if they could send some pilots to fly with them so they could get some experience fighting Americans. Site content may be used for any purpose without explicit permission unless otherwise specified. Isnt it a very powerful statement about what kind of people we are? 4. chiefs, etc.). After I published this post Ray Seymour sent me the following message: Dave Lowder and I supplied the photos and I put it together for the Rats Phoenix convention in May of 2012. We followed the emergency proeedures, pulled the stabilator trim circuit breaker and engaged the autopilot. There was one Mig-19 pilot in their group, Lt.Col. Guess what Dan said? To the contrary. Anyway, after that personal session with Lien he opened the afternoon session and did a great job of translating the interesting facts of the fights. The first was June 17, 1965, by Cmdr. Some sources will state over 5,000 helicopter pilots were killed in the Viet war. What do you think about Ken Burns series? Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. We were TDY from Kunsan Air Base, Korea. It is accurate to state that the P-38 did shoot down more Japanese aircraft than any other USAAF plane with 1,857, with the P-40 running a close second at 1,633.5. One man was a helicopter gunship pilot. 2013. A mother and three children died on the ground where the aircraft crashed. Capt. That F-105 broke apart after receiving initially undetectable damage earlier in its career while midair refueling. The airborne command post directed my four ship flight of F-4s to rendezvous with an F-4 that had a loran bombing system. despite their oral claim of service there. F-105 Pilots Killed in Action Marker. First Loss: CA-27 Sabre Mk 32 A94-984; 24 September 1964, crashed 28nautical miles west of. Of those servicepeople, 2,382 were killed while serving aboard UH-1 Iroquois, better known as the ubiquitous "Huey.". It was an EC-121 four engine propeller airplane that orbited over Laos. Im in the back row 6th guy from the left. Gary says . What struck me about the photo I found of Capt. Please leave your comments below. Click on the hotlinks for more information. I was offered a boxof squadron goodiesby one pilotbutIcould not give my mailing address tohim as wewerenot on a secure net. A few seconds later Col. Beckers radioed Lark 3 break left. Beckers was checking Lark 3s six oclock and saw the missiles come off the rails. May God continue to bless you, John! 7. The average lifespan of a door gunner on a Huey in Vietnam was just two weeks. The Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA) estimates that over 100,000 helicopter pilots and crew members served during the Vietnam War. The highlights of Dan Autreys recording of a mission with Gary are: Theo van Geffen visited Gary Retterbush on November 9, 2021. Siouxs, Chocktaws, Sea Stallions, Jolly Green Giants, CH46s, 3 crewmen were KIA. The worthy subject of statues in town squares or the name of a new high school. In small suburbs and country towns people talked about these men. Where can you find a List of navy pilots shot down in Vietnam in 1959? The goal of Westmoreland and President Johnson was to kill massive numbers of people and outlast North Vietnam rather than win the war as quickly as possible with the least loss of life. (AAF) pilots shot down almost 15,800 enemy airplanes. Forty F-105 "Thud" fighter pilots were killed in action while flying combat missions to North Vietnam from May 1966 to December 1972. Capt. Over 4,800 helicopter pilots and crew members were killed in action, and more than 300 are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He said at one time too many Viet pilots were claiming kills which they could not substantiate. Watch the video. "dog-fights" in the Vietnam War. Here am I. Kenny decided he would be safer in the trees so he did not use his tree lowering device to let down to the ground. They had a mutual-friends-society back-slapping session in one of the back rooms then they all came out to have some libations in the main bar and on the back patioboth of which were packed! V Phi Hng 921st Fighter Regiment Does An AssociateS Degree Look Good On A Resume? Why did our leaders sacrifice so much precious blood and treasure without ever intending to win the war? There was a crowd at the park that day, and it took us awhile to connect, but with the aid of a computer we made it. Sometimes, however, we did bad work. They were short of gunners on helicopters, because the life expectancy was somewhere between 13 and 30 days, he said. I saw retired Lt General Tom Conant who had been the Commanding General of the Third Marine Air Wing at Miramar a few years back and who is now working for Lockheed Martin in the F-35 program. It was flying straight and level at altitude and releasing the bombs. This video made by PBS channel KPBS is about four men who flew aircraft in the VIetnam War. How Many Huey Helicopters Were Shot Down In Vietnam? Here are three F-4 in combat in the Vietnam War books you can buy on Amazon: On June 2, 1972, at approximately 1330 hours, Brenda 01, a hard-wing F-4E, tail number 68210, flown by Major Phil Handley shot down a MiG-19 with the 20mm cannon approximately 40 miles northeast of Hanoi. Rationale for this answer: 1. Capt. Reeder is being held behind the middle window. This page was last edited on 30 March 2023, at 23:03. More than 5,000 Hueys operated in Vietnam; around 2,500 were lost to enemy fire. Some of the Viets brought their wives as there were five or six women there too. Descending through 5,000 feet, in accordance with the Emergency Procedures in the checklist, Paul and I initiated a controllability check, to see if the aircraft would be controllable in a landing configuration. See also Unbroken Will: The Story of Lance P. Sijan. In all, a staggering 382 Thunderchiefs were lost in Vietnam, nearly half the total number that was built. [11], William A. Sayers writing in 2019 asserted that North Vietnam only had three aces in the war including Phm Thanh Ngn, with the other "aces" being creations of North Vietnamese propaganda that included claimed "kills" on days where no U.S. losses occurred, crediting VPAF pilots with kills that had actually been achieved by surface to air missile or antiaircraft artillery units and shootdowns of drones. Kenny was one of my instructor pilots when I went through F-4 replacement training unit (RTU) at Luke AFB, Arizona, 1971 1972. 60 caliber machine gun.. . ! BIG LAUGHS again by both the Viets and the US crews. The C.O. Lt. Karl W. Richter was shot down on July 28th, 1967 at the age of 24. On May 24, 1996, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed titled Still the Noblest Calling written by F-100 fighter pilot JD Wetterling. The USAF sustained approximately 0.4 losses per 1,000 sorties during the conflict, which compared favorably with a 2.0 rate in Korea and a 9.7 figure during World War II. Shortly after they took off they were jumped by two USAF Phantoms and the Russian was having a terrible time trying to defend against the two Phantoms. The Viet pilot was an accomplished combat pilot and took control of the plane. Waters was the type of a man you think of when you picture a jet fighter pilot. But like any other aircraft, helicopters were vulnerable to ground fire. After each of my bombing missions with a FAC the FAC gave our flight BDA. Its also best not to discuss the calamitous employment of the F-105 by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds that ended in a fiery aircraft disintegration on May 9, 1964 at an airshow venue in California. According to interviewed F-15 pilots, several kills by F-15s were made in a similar manner, with Iraqi aircraft being downed after retreating from Tomcats. Lemay, Harkins, Westmoreland, Abrams, and Maxwell Taylor, were WWII This meeting was a lot more fun since we got to do more than just talk and it was a lot more laughs with 13 of them. in WWII, and were fighting again in the sky's over North Vietnam; Lacking that, he recalls, This was not going to ever be a winning effort. It is a seemingly endless tablet of remarkable tales etched into the bedrock of freedoms foundation. Senator, and presidential candidate would ask me, an Air Force aviator, if I thought he was crazy! The North Vietnamese spent a month digging trenches and bunkers and preparing for the battle. The results were catastrophic. Crews could determine the type of radar by the pitch of the tone. The first attack was unsuccessful. Sen.Col T MiG-17 Conversely, the Soviet Union sources claim to have shot down 800 UN aircraft, while the US claims to have lost only 100 aircraft in combat. The text of the sales page that mentions Dan and his front seater Gary Retterbush. Originally the Koreans sent 16 pilots then sent more later, and the Koreans did indeed fly against the US. None of the 6th Troop Carrier Squadron (6th TCS) pilots knew where they were when they landed in New Guinea on 13 October 1942, with their thirteen, unarmed C-47 aircraft. "It's pretty gruesome. The Viets left and the Blues mingled and I drank two-three-seven too many more Jack n Cokes and kept schmoozing, then around 9:30 I left tooand I sure was glad I had a designated driver. Below is the text of a comment I posted today in the comments section of an article entitled The tragedy of the PBS-Ken Burns version of the Vietnam War. I just finished episode 7 of the 10 episode series. changing verbs to nouns worksheet pdf Tweet; epic inpatient assessment for nurse fundamentals 200 Share; capital community college admissions Hatena; hose reel swivel repair kit D.L. veterans. Episodes Pilot episode. Well, were over east Texas or Louisiana now and my memory-and my fingers-are about exhausted. VS-41 at NAS North Island retained four of the borrowed Broncos to be used for training replacement pilots and maintenance personnel. Major Lodge refused to eject because he had vowed never to become a prisoner of war. There are several statues of Lt. Karl Richter at prominent locations around the U.S. commemorating his remarkable courage and career. Of all those shot-down pilots, the experience apparently only made one uniquely qualified to be President. I told him there were none. An interesting video on the science of aerial combat, aka dog fighting. See John Boyds Aerial Attack study treatise and the Energy Maneuverability study. There were a reported 33.7 accidents per 100,000 flying hours in the F-105 by half way through 1964, a massive increase compared to earlier years. This nine minute video by General Ritchie describes in detail his memories ofthe day Roger Locher and Bob Lodge were shot down and Rogers rescue 23 days later. How many U.S. helicopters were lost in Vietnam? Needless to say, that process was laborious and we lost a lot of the meaning, sentiment and emotion while it took place. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Gary said the reason six Thuds were shot down was because the U.S. alerted the North Vietnamese of the attacks so it could defend the targets. 2.Denny Wisely USN, 1 victory I went. First loss: 1964, final loss: 1967. How many Cobra helicopters were shot down in Vietnam? I too flew F-4s in Southeast Asia in 1972. A U.S. fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War. The pilot did not survive either. The A/S light would illuminate if the F-4 was in the intersection of the SA-2 surface to air missile (SAM) left and right (the azimuth) radar and its up and down (the sector) radar.
