| Date: 29 April 1967 |
| Aircraft type: RF-4C Phantom |
| Serial Number: 65-0872 |
| Military Unit: 11 TRS, 432 TRW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Udorn |
| Name(s): |
| Maj Mark Lane Stephensen (KIA) |
| 1Lt Gary Richard Sigler (POW) |
| As night fell an RF-4C sped across Laos and into North Vietnam to take flash photographs of the damage done to the bridge at Hanoi. Flying at low level en route to the target the crew suddenly received a warning that a SAM radar had locked on to them. Maj Stephensen started evasive action but the aircraft (call sign Coach) flew through the tops of several trees with enough violence to cause the backseater to eject immediately. As he swung in his parachute he saw the aircraft crash into a hill with no indication that the pilot had ejected. 1Lt Sigler was captured after two days on the run and spent nearly six years as a POW before his release on 4 March 1973. In April 1988 the Vietnamese handed over remains which they said were those of Maj Stephensen and this was verified in the following August. Gary Sigler was flying his 93rd mission when he was shot down. |
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