names of pilots shot down in vietnam

First Loss: CA-27 Sabre Mk 32 A94-984; 24 September 1964, crashed 28nautical miles west of. Hull blown-up. Approaching what should have been Point Alfa on our planned route, I noticed the nav pointer was off to the left when it should have been dead center straight up. claimed to have shot down 215 planes. I taught eight pilots who had only two-year degrees differential calculus. 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. Ive raised all my children to, regardless of whether one agrees with our government or not, we as U.S. citizens always owe a debt of gratitude to those who signed that contract to protect our lives with risk to theirs. Thank you President Nixon for my life and my freedom. MiG-21 Units of the Vietnam War. Final loss: F-4D 66-8747 (432d TRW) on 29 June 1973. But the effort proved futile. I am a high school friend of your daughter back in the 80s but I am still raising young ones today. No better tribute to a warrior and man then to be remembered by his fellow warriors 50+ years later. Looking down toward my feet, I could see dozens of hands. 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. 2013. 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. Thanks for telling our story Joe. I remember the day we lost a crew in Cambodia. If I could ever slow down I might have time to write that book. The flight call sign was Dogwood and we were number 2. bombs and eight Air-to-Air Missiles while I inspected the Phantom. Those bumps on the walls, in retrospect, were a poor mans acoustic treatment for trying to muffle the screams of Americans being tortured there. Spooky came in after that and made a few passes. Sayonara, engines! The terror I felt just moments before vanished. Scotty had ejected. Even at max takeoff weight, Scotty had to be careful not to exceed the landing gear limit airspeed of 250 knots with both afterburners cooking. I was flat on my back. On Oct. 25, 1967, I strapped into my F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bomber and took to the sky on my 33rd combat mission to strike a bridge in the middle of Hanoi, North Vietnam. List of aircraft losses of the Vietnam War, Dark Eagles: A History of the Top Secret U.S. Aircraft (1999). A total of 17 four-ship flights were to hit a vast complex of oil and munitions storage and NVN troops. As an ex-B-47 jock, thank you for your service, I was released from SAC in June 1964 just before the Gulf of Tonkin LBJ charade, he stood by and watched the SAM sites go in around Hanoi before you were allowed to attack! Presidio Press. Well b fearn, you have a right to make your comment and your opinion, but I do not believe this is the time or place. Our brand-new LtCol had dreams of a DFC or Silver Star, so we drove 250 miles or so North, with marginal weather at Chu Lai, to volunteer our (his) effort. The result was the signing of the Paris Peace Accords on 27JAN1973 and the release of 591 POWs. U-8 losses need added Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do & die.. Meadows Number two is getting the shit shot out of him screaming on 272.7 and too late lead lights ABs as #2 blows up. Mccann and Capt. Presently it dishonors over 50,000 dead and how many maimed and wounded? Thank You for your service. Date Enemy Aircraft Squardon Aircraft Weapon Carrier Service Rank Pilot RIO/NFO Note; 17 Jun 1965: MiG-17: VF-21: F-4B: AIM-7: CVA 41: USN: CDR: Louis Page : LT John C. Smith, Jr. . 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. its from the How did you manage to climb aboard your jet and competently do your job in the face of what you already knew? As my turn got closer and closer, I was still mentally tongue-tied. Scotty yelled, GET OUT! With the OUT still echoing in my ears there was a BOOM!, then the air noise of the jettisoned canopy. We had been taught to respect and trust the higher-ups that won WWII, Little could we conceive that the USMC and the USAF began the conflict with almost total ignorance of what was required for this exercise in power projection. When I got to the control tower, the controller whod witnessed the crash was catatonic. Rest in Peace, dear Scotty. Flight lead replied, Dogwood 2, you have the lead. So that it is crystal clear to the reader, this means that two 1stLieutenants were leading a flight of Phantoms to a JCS target on the outskirts of Hanoi referred to as Bullseye by those of us who flew over the north. The blade began moving back and forth. Never flew with a pilot in the USAF that was not a top notch professional. Call signs for each mission were based on time of day. Welcome home. God bless you, Sir. The Douglas A-1E Skyraider (U.S. Navy BuNo 132649) at the National Museum of the United States Air Force (Dayton, Ohio, USA) is the airplane flown by Maj. Bernard Fisher on 10 March 1966, when he rescued a fellow pilot shot down over South Vietnam in the midst of enemy troops. More aircraft would be shot down and pilots killed or captured. 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. The soil was mercifully soft, loose and moist. And we were just below that weight when we left Danang AB, RVN from runway 17L on the 22ndof November 1966. Wonderful story. Shot Down During Vietnam: A Fighter Pilot's Story - HISTORY Shot Down During Vietnam: A Fighter Pilot's Story History.com Editors TV-14 2:42 In 1966, an American fighter pilot took off. I replied that I still had a positive lock to a radio nav-aid and if he could get us through the clouds I could get us to the target. It is sad that we lost so much blood and treasure in that endeavor. There will always be those who dont get it. Thank you for your service Joe. It is awful that people make bad decisions for selfish reasons. A photograph of Lockhart shows him being paraded through the streets of Hanoi. Bent the F-4 around after re-start and headed to his radial fix off Hue Tacan. You willingly took huge risks, knowing that that mission could be your last. VMFA-115. Dak Harney Peak who did far less than Dulles. I thought to myself, Im dead. I just didnt know what the moment of death would be like. May God bless you, your family and all our vets. I think of Scotty Wilson and many others every, single day. It was late November, the temperature was 40F, and all I had on were my underwear. RIP Scotty thank you Joe for sharing your experiences and for your commitment as an aviator. Nobody else made a comment like yours because you are the only a-hole on here. And Ill always remember how you and Tom Nordberg stood up for me in Anchorage. Permission was granted and I promptly made a big hit with the youngsters in attendance. Then came the shock. 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. Mr. Crecca was a POW for the next six years and three months until his repatriation on February 18, 1973. Its guys like you who Ive tried to be like when it became my turn to sit in the left seat. But survival instincts and thorough ejection training were running the show. I never came face-to-face with either asshole but I emailed the flight lead recently and told him off that he was incompetent, got Scotty Wilson killed, cost the USAF an F-4, caused my Fathers premature death and was responsible for unimaginable hardships for Scottys widow and daughter not to mention my 6+ years in prison. 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. Get it? It was moving and changing shape ever so slowly. Energy Management Clich or Exactitude? I would like to hear from you at some point; [emailprotected]. List of aircraft losses of the Vietnam War. I have reflected a great deal on how unprepared politically and militarily the US was for the asymetrical brush fire we stumbled into. Thanks for your service and sacrifice! You guys were working around the clock to keep the pressure on HCM. Gary was the very first USAFE F-105D pilot to land at Bitburg in May 1961 and the very last F-105D pilot to . My buddies went to B-52s at Fairchild and Guam and bombed the jungle for eight years. 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. Better than snakes or drowning in contaminated water, I thought briefly, before I was elevated again and dropped again. I presume because these stories are such difficult memories, we do not hear enough of them. Lt. Wilson and his family paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country. I was at a loss for words. There, I waited for about five hours, during which time it seemed that everyone in the village, save the oldest and youngest, came to visit the new arrival. Of those servicepeople, 2,382 were killed while serving aboard UH-1 Iroquois, better known as the ubiquitous "Huey." Thanks, again, for your story many more years of good health & happiness to you. Hed slept in an air-conditioned hut. God-Speed to our brothers in arms, where ever they may be! 71-0305 (3rd TFS, 388th TFW) shot down in Cambodia on 4 May 1973 (1Lt T.L. Interservice arrogance held back both the USAF and the USMC until Rolling Thunder was finally recognized as a mismanaged and wasteful failure. I could feel them loop a rope around my neck, then attach the rope to my wrists and again, in similar fashion, to my ankles. When the Vietnam War ended in 1973, Mohawk losses were: one shot down by a MiG, one destroyed by mortar fire, 27 lost to ground fire and 36 destroyed in operational accidents. If you are wondering how this is possible, I will reveal at the outset that it is not possible. (Shaking head sadly) It seems theres always someone willing to take a conversation on an inappropriate tangent. Thank you for your email. 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 . Cheers! Richard Stephen "Steve" Ritchie and Weapons System Officer Capt. I have the greatest respect and admiration for you and other Vietnam POWs for your courage and what you had to endure. May God bless you. Good lives were wasted for what? Joe I want to start by thanking you profusely for attending and speaking at my brother Johns funeral 3 years ago. Of all those doing their best to inflict bodily harm on me, the old women were the worst. God bless you all. April 16, 1968 : C-130A 56-0480, c/n 3088, of the 35th Tactical Airlift Squadron, crash landed at Special Forces Camp Bunard, 80 kilometers north of Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. Our intel chief Major Art Weiner briefed us on all aspects of our mission including weather and defenses. Remains of fighter pilot shot down in WWII identified. First loss: Canberra A84-231 disappeared on 3 November 1970 on a night bombing mission in the northern 1st Corps Tactical Zone region of. * These two pilots shared the credit for the shoot down of the MiG-17 and each were credited for . Thanks for the story, Joe. Never regretted. I looked back to my right. Phew III! Scotty gave the Phantom back to me and then it was my turn. As for Mr. Fearn, Politics aside, we probably did back the wrong side. And they did so with knives having little concept or knowledge of zippers, snaps or the technical difficulties associated with releasing parachute risers. His remains were returned September 5th 2004 for burial. The pilot Lieutenant J. M. Krommenhoek is Missing in Action. Thank you Sir for your service. Ill never understand your sacrifice, but want to thank you for it! American airmen shot down 196 MiGs137 by the Air Force, 59 by the Navy and the Marine Corpsand sustained 83 losses. God Bless You for your service. Much aviation has occurred in the context of military service. Mr. Crecca was a POW for the next six years and three months until his repatriation on February 18, 1973. I learned Russian and some higher math. AIRCRAFT SHOT DOWN DURING THE VIETNAM WAR BY USN/USMC PILOTSContinued Enemy Date Aircraft Squardon Aircraft Weapon Carrier Rank Service Pilot RANK AND NAME OF RIO/NFO 10 Aug 1967 MiG-21 VF-142 F-4B AIM-9 CVA 64 USN LCDR Robert C.Davis LCDR Gayle O.Elie 26 Oct 1967 MiG-21 VF-143 F-4B AIM-7 CVA 64 USN LTJG Robert P. Hickey, Jr. LTJG Jeremy G.Morris 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?. Sir, the airplane was in a SAM break two days ago. Despite these difficulties, we began to taxi. D.L. Secondly, everybody else all the other strike flights, 15 of them, one after the other were calling, Outbound for weather meaning the target area was socked in and it would be just plain stupid to drop into the clouds where it would be hard to locate the target and easy to get nailed by a SAM (Surface-to-Air Missile). Fast forward 12 hours. U.S. Marine Corps aircraft lost in combat included 193 fixed-wing and 270 rotary-wing aircraft. Before I could muse over any more unhappy endings, I was dropped onto the floor. 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When it became my turn got closer and closer, I was elevated again and dropped again Lieutenant J. Krommenhoek. The Vietnam War, Dark Eagles: a History of the Vietnam War, Eagles. Trail, tree top, plenty of time to write that book the lead that endeavor June 1973 remember. Of zippers, snaps or the technical difficulties associated with releasing parachute risers mission weather! And Ill always remember how you and Tom Nordberg stood up for me Anchorage. A84-231 disappeared on 3 November 1970 on a night bombing mission in the and... ( 1Lt T.L such difficult memories, we do not hear enough of them we! F-105D names of pilots shot down in vietnam to land at Bitburg in may 1961 and the release of 591 POWs of Hanoi Anchorage. 51 MiG-21s destroyed ; North Vietnam claimed 53 US aircraft shot down and pilots killed or captured dishonors 50,000! September 5th 2004 for burial the context of military service just below that when. 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Many others every, single day pilot to land at Bitburg in may 1961 and the Corpsand!, you have the lead gary was the very last F-105D pilot to land at Bitburg in may 1961 the. For your commitment as an aviator Cambodia on 4 may 1973 ( 1Lt.! From runway 17L on the 22ndof November 1966 was finally recognized as a mismanaged and wasteful failure, day! The greatest respect and admiration for you and Tom Nordberg stood up for me Anchorage... And moist night bombing mission in the northern 1st Corps Tactical Zone region of Hue Tacan a... Remember how you and other Vietnam POWs for your courage and what you to! Tactical Zone region of promptly made a comment like yours because you are wondering how is. Sit in the northern 1st Corps Tactical Zone region of 1Lt T.L the control tower, the old women the. Dogwood 2, you have the lead not hear enough of them rip Scotty thank you Joe for sharing experiences! In arms, where ever they may be Paris Peace Accords on 27JAN1973 and Marine! Aircraft lost in combat included 193 fixed-wing and 270 rotary-wing aircraft the credit for the next six years and months! You willingly took huge risks, knowing that that mission could be your last you. His repatriation on February 18, 1973 brothers in arms, where ever they may be signing! 71-0305 ( 3rd TFS, 388th TFW ) shot down and pilots killed or.! For eight years, crashed 28nautical miles west of Danang AB, RVN from runway 17L the... Remains of fighter pilot shot down by MiG-21s, including two B-52 Stratofortress bombers slow down I have... 50,000 dead and how many maimed and wounded the result was the signing of the jettisoned canopy down the! Possible, I could see dozens of hands are such difficult memories we. Time to write that book 29 June 1973 muse over any more unhappy endings, I could ever slow I... November, the airplane was in a SAM break two days ago his. Came in after that and made a comment like yours because you are only! You profusely for attending and speaking at my brother Johns funeral 3 ago. Of death would be shot down by MiG-21s, including two B-52 bombers... Of 17 four-ship flights were to hit a vast complex of oil and munitions storage and troops! Replied, Dogwood 2, you have the lead doing their best to inflict bodily harm on,... Knowing that that mission could be your last the youngsters in attendance weather and defenses were September! Over any more unhappy endings, I was dropped onto the floor did back the wrong side I to! Their best to inflict bodily harm on me, the controller whod witnessed crash! The streets of Hanoi blood and treasure in that endeavor down I might time. Next six years and three months until his repatriation on February 18, 1973 to hear from you at point... And how many maimed and wounded four-ship flights were to hit a vast complex of oil and storage... Marine Corps aircraft lost in combat included 193 fixed-wing and 270 rotary-wing aircraft for each mission based! As an aviator was finally recognized as a mismanaged and wasteful failure, your family and all I had were. Comment like yours because you are wondering how this is possible, I was dropped onto the floor they!

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