of an F-4), or I could man a missile silo in North Dakota. 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. As a 110 F4 combat mission Vet, Id like to know. 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. You should be ashamed of yourself! The result of the egotistical attitude by the DO and the lack of courage and sound judgement by our flight leader cost Scotty Wilson his life, put me in communist prisons for over six years, resulted in my fathers untimely death at the age of 58 and a host of other horrors back home while I was away. How do you look in the mirror? 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. And I also thank you for taking the time to write down your harrowing and amazing experience in war. Ha! Although I was only a few thousand feet away, I hadnt been able to hear the explosion. 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. A well? The USAF also lost F-4C Phantom 64-0755. I was falling towards the Earth and still attached to my Martin-Baker (made in England) ejection seat below a four-foot drogue chute to stabilize my rapid descent. I grew up with Thomas Guenther from Mass who also piloted an F-4 in RVN and NVN. GlobalSecurity, South Viet Nam Air Force VNAF Aircraft Deliveries. Cliff, I am very sorry for the loss of your Dad. I remember the day we lost a crew in Cambodia. Gary was the very first USAFE F-105D pilot to land at Bitburg in May 1961 and the very last F-105D pilot to . The cockpit pressure vessel was intact; incredibly, it had not been penetrated despite a direct hit by a Soviet SA-2 missile traveling at over Mach 2 with a 400 lb., high-explosive warhead! It was late November, the temperature was 40F, and all I had on were my underwear. 71-0305 (3rd TFS, 388th TFW) shot down in Cambodia on 4 May 1973 (1Lt T.L. Even Yale plans to re-name from a Slavery advocate. He told me join up. Barney. I have four children- ages 34, 30, 11 and 8 and am Grandma to 3 ages 8, 8 & 5. Iwo Jima. 64 to 69. Dinh . I am grateful to him for that, beyond measure. By the time of the American involvement in Southeast Asia communism, by moderate estimates, around the globe had murdered 110 million people! I knew you had endured being a prisoner but we never talked about it. Final loss: EC-47Q 43-48636 (361st Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron, 56th SOW) shot down in Laos on the night of 04/5 45 February 1973, killing all 8 crewmen. 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. American airmen shot down 196 MiGs137 by the Air Force, 59 by the Navy and the Marine Corpsand sustained 83 losses. all i can do is thank you so much for allowing common people like myself to be inspired . He was the last fighter pilot to become an ace in a day, shooting down five Indian Hawker . Both were exactly right because the top of my parachute was practically in the bottom of the clouds right above me. The door gunner Bobby Harris was KIA during the shoot down. Tried to cross-service in 64 or 65 to Army for WO pilot program, but because I was already in the military (being in a critical COMSEC AFSC probably didnt help), I was offered no guarantee of flight training, so I withdrew the request otherwise, I may have been one of your grateful students, or still buried in some shallow grave. 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 am proud of you Joe and Scotty for your service and to be part of a community which recognises and should be proud of your example. The eight-engine bomber was brought down by a North Vietnamese surface-to-air missile near Vinh on the day when B-52s flew their heaviest raids of the war over North Vietnam. I thank you for what you did for us all, and I know it cost you. The upper estimate puts it at nearly 260 million! If you are wondering how this is possible, I will reveal at the outset that it is not possible. 33 years 6 months after his loss. Youd make a grand Socialist. No one shot at him. That may be the biggest benefit from Viet Nam, a conflict which many would say yielded very few benefits, as you suggest. According to the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association, a total of 11,846 helicopters were shot down or crashed during the war, resulting in nearly 5,000 American pilots and crew killed. Thank you for your sentiments. The former fighter pilot, who was shot down over Vietnam in 1967, went on: I would like to hear from you at some point; [emailprotected]. As lieutenants in our respective services, we knew only that something was wrong. We were going to make it. I was in the tower in Saigon and F-4s would come pouring in. And all of us should remember them every day because we are we enjoy the freedoms their sacrifice every, single day. I saw 3 aircraft in front of me, so I asked lead to flash his lights. At 2,500 ft. You and your fellow POWs were and are the best of this nation. Blows were raining all over my body including my head, thankfully still protected by my helmet. God Bless You for your service. Fritz came in with the rest of his nape and sent a SAM across the tree line like a horizontal Roman candle. Mr. Crecca Thank you for your courageous service in the Phabulous Phighter (F-4) and your extraordinary service as a POW. After that, I was blindfolded and transported two miles by motorcycle sidecar to another village and locked in a small building made of large stones. 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. I looked for an escape route. (Shaking head sadly) It seems theres always someone willing to take a conversation on an inappropriate tangent. Having won WWII by the application of enormous industrial power including saving the largest socialist entity in the world from the ravages of the second-largest socialist entity in the world we continued to view the world in wartime terms of us versus them and we prepared for the next war by preparing for the past war with near-total reliance on atomic weapons to win the next war. It is sad that we lost so much blood and treasure in that endeavor. 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. In fact all those who kept us in the air were. Scotty Wilson had a beautiful wife and daughter whose lives were torn asunder as well. 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. The pilot Lieutenant J. M. Krommenhoek is Missing in Action. According to the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association, a total of 11,846 helicopters were shot down or crashed during the war, resulting in nearly 5,000 American pilots and crew killed. Like the Flat-Earthers who still dont believe we landed on the Moon. I was always in awe of you guys flying the Phantom in the opressive heat and conditions of S.E. Every living Veteran will no doubt support such. First loss: Canberra A84-231 disappeared on 3 November 1970 on a night bombing mission in the northern 1st Corps Tactical Zone region of. 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. Smoke would be pouring out of their engines. A story that is the most gripping, truly horrifying and of sacrifices. Between January and July, U.S. Air Force fighters flying air-to-air missions shot down 29 MiGs while losing just two of their owna 14.5-1 kill ratio. . The plane was unveiled . Dulles had his chance to prevent the un-needed War. Announcing the 2023 Richard Collins Writing Prize for Young Pilots, Flying in paradise: a vacation flight lesson in Maui, Accident report: losing control at 43,000 feet. I reached bingo, bingo minus 5, minus 10, minus 15, and reported to lead each time. Im horrified to know how divided our country was in the late 60s/early 70s, and people like you did your duty, for all of us. I was a flight engineer in the Air Force and National Guard. We accomplished the weapons checklist just as we entered enemy territory: Centerline station, Bombs ripple, Intervalometer set, Master Arm. The bomb release button was now hot! The MiG-21 N. 4324 of the Vietnam People's Air Force. By The Associated Press. Cmon man, show some class! It was a moving story. The clouds were reported to be at 10,000 ft. Gary, this was like Vietnam all over again!. If you think I should not be called a hero, tell them, not me. Notes. And Mr. Crecca, again, I thank you. Its a real shame but they ruined a perfectly good pair of nearly new, highly-polished USAF flying boots with zippers; they cut right through the damn zippers! Messrs. Crecca and Wilson were asked by their nation to serve. A minute or two after takeoff we had cold air blasting through the cockpits. I believe I heard, or read, that the F-4 itself crashed in a small horse pasture. After I was stabilized, the boomer cleared me into the contact position. At 9,000 ft., I began trying to maneuver my parachute towards the southern tip of the Tam Dao Mountain range better known as Thud Ridge by the F-105 Thunderchief drivers. 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. Hayden Lockhart was the first Air Force pilot to fall into North Vietnamese hands. So why were we going in anyway? 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. 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. 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. Graham MIA, Final loss: 670111 (474th TFW) mid-air collision over Cambodia, 16 June 1973, both crewmen rescued, First loss: 515287 to unknown cause 19 June 1965, 51-0071 (33d ARRS) shot down by AAA 14 March 1966, two crewmen killed, Only loss: KB-50J 48-0065 (421st Air Refueling Squadron Detachment) at, Two crashes in 1968, one 1969, all operational (non-combat), First loss: YQU-22A 68-10531 (554th RS, 553d RW) crashed due to engine failure on 11 June 1969, Final loss: QU-22B 70-1546 (554th RS) on 25 August 1972, pilot killed, First loss: 64-17969 (Det OL-8, 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing) suffered engine failure over Thailand on 10 May 1970, both crewmen ejected safely, Final loss: 64-17978 (Det OL-KA, 9th SRW) crashed on landing at, Only loss: 566690 (349th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron 100th SRW) which crashed on 8 October 1966 near Bien Hoa, SVN, Maj. Leo J Stewart ejected and was rescued. Although thank you is not enough, I do thank you for your service. 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