| Date: 30 April 1967 |
| Aircraft type: F-105F Thunderchief |
| Serial Number: 62-4447 |
| Military Unit: 357 TFS, 355 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Takhli |
| Name(s): |
| Maj Leo Keith Thorsness (POW) |
| Capt Harold Eugene Johnson (POW) |
| Aircraft type: F-105D Thunderchief |
| Serial Number: 59-1726 |
| Military Unit: 354 TFS, 355 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Takhli |
| Name(s): |
| 1Lt Robert Archie Abbott (POW) |
| Aircraft type: F-105D Thunderchief |
| Serial Number: 61-0130 |
| Military Unit: 333 TFS, 355 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Takhli |
| Name(s): |
| Capt Joseph S Abbott (POW) |
| The last day of the month saw a major raid on an important thermal power plant near Hanoi and, although no aircraft were lost over the target, three F-105s were lost during the raid resulting in the capture of four airmen. The raid was led by Col Jack Broughton, the vice-commander of the 355th TFW, who wrote about this mission in his book Thud Ridge. Carbine flight consisted of three Wild Weasel F-105Fs and a single D model and was the Iron Hand flight responsible for tackling any SAM sites that might threaten the strike force. When Carbine flight was inbound to the target but still about 50 miles west of Hanoi it was intercepted by a number of MiG-21s. One of the MiGs fired an Atoll missile that hit and damaged Maj Thorsness’s aircraft (call sign Carbine 3). With the aircraft on fire the crew ejected and landed safely in hills about 25 miles south of Yen Bai. The pair contacted their flight leader, Maj Ben Fuller in Carbine 1, who advised them to make their way up a nearby hill to await a possible rescue.
As about the same time that Carbine 3 was being attacked another member of the flight was also in trouble. 1Lt Robert Abbott’s aircraft (call sign Carbine 4), the single-seat D model, was also hit by a missile, and he ejected just a few miles away from his two colleagues. Col Broughton was a couple of minutes behind the Weasel flight and told Maj Ed Dobson leading Tomahawk flight to fly RESCAP over the downed airmen until a SAR force could arrive. Maj Al Lenski, who was flying Tomahawk 3, relates this mission in great detail in his book Magic 100 and believes that Bob Abbott was actually shot down before Carbine 3 was hit but that most of the strike force failed to see this or hear a warning transmission from Carbine 2. When Carbine 3 went down the information was passed to Crown, the HC-130 that acted as rescue coordinator, and a SAR force was launched. Tomahawk flight had split so that two aircraft were orbiting low over the downed airmen and two were higher up acting as radio relays to Crown and the SAR aircraft. Meanwhile the other F-105s had aborted the mission to the thermal power plant, which had almost certainly been destroyed in a raid a few days earlier anyway, and set off to find some tankers to refuel so they could return and take over RESCAP duties if needed. It was only as Carbine flight was heading to the tanker that they realised that Bob Abbott had also been shot down. Maj Al Lenski and Capt Joe Abbott of Tomahawk’s high flight set up a racetrack pattern at 15,000 feet about 10 miles south of the survivor’s position and orbited for about 30 minutes until the two remaining aircraft of Carbine flight arrived back from the tanker. Almost at the same time the first A-1 Sandies arrived to start searching for the downed airmen but had difficulty seeing where Thorsness and Johnson had come down. Al Lenski and Joe Abbott were just about to turn south to head for the tanker when they were attacked from behind by MiG-21s. Both Tomahawk aircraft were hit by Atoll missiles and Capt Abbott’s aircraft burst into flames forcing him to eject. Maj Lenski’s aircraft was badly damaged but he managed to escape into a cloud layer and only just made it to a tanker before running out of fuel. Al Lenski landed safely at Udorn despite severe damage to his aircraft including the loss of his Tacan and other navigational aids. With three aircraft down and four men on the ground Col Broughton’s Waco flight arrived back from refuelling and took over the RESCAP. The Sandy flight had to leave the area to return to Udorn for fuel but on their way they heard about Joe Abbott being shot down. They diverted and located Joe Abbott and passed his position to Crown before leaving for Udorn. A few minutes later one of the Sandies was hit by ground fire and almost added to the day’s toll but the pilot dived the Skyraider to put out the flames and limped back to Thailand. Worse luck followed as one of the two Jolly Greens inbound to the survivors developed a hydraulic problem and had to abort. Standard operating procedures at that time did not normally allow a single helicopter to continue in case it should be shot down with no back up to rescue the crew, so both helicopters turned back. The presence of MiGs in the area must also have had some bearing on the decision not to persist with the rescue attempt until the enemy aircraft had been cleared from the area. A rescue mission was mounted the following day and for several days afterwards F-105s made visual and radio searches of the area for signs of the survivors but none of the airmen who were downed on the 30th were rescued. The one positive aspect of the mission was that all four airmen survived to become POWs in the Hanoi Hilton. Joseph Abbott, who was a Wing officer attached to the 333rd TFS for this mission, was released on 18 February 1973, slightly earlier than the others. Leo Thorsness, Harry Johnson and Bob Abbott were all released on 4 March 1973 after suffering the usual hardship at the hands of their North Vietnamese captors. The coincidence of two airmen of the same surname being shot down on the same raid that had first occurred on 26 April with the two Meyers, had happened once again with Robert and Joseph Abbott. Another aircraft was almost lost during this incident when an A-1E flown by Capt Bill Thompson of the 602nd ACS ran short of fuel having jettisoned his drop tanks following a MiG warning. Thompson later assisted in the attempted rescue of Capt Abbott but had to force land in darkness at a forward airstrip in northern Laos. All four POWs resumed their Air Force careers following release. Robert Abbott returned to flying and retired as a Colonel. Harry Johnson was one of several prisoners who were incarcerated in a prison known as ‘Dogpatch’ near Cao Bang close to the Chinese border. He later served a tour as an exchange instructor at the Royal Air Force Staff College in Bracknell and retired as a Colonel. Unknown to Leo Thorsness, he had been awarded the Medal of Honor soon after he was taken prisoner. He and Harry Johnson had flown 92 missions before their ill-fated final sortie and they had been successful on many occasions either destroying SAM sites or forcing them to close down at critical periods when the strike force was nearby. However, the Medal of Honor was awarded specifically for his actions on 19 April following the shooting down of his wingman. The award was kept secret at the time in case the North Vietnamese should single Thorsness out for special punishment. As it was the brutal treatment meted out to most prisoners at this period of the war was almost unbearable. After his retirement from the Air Force Leo Thorsness became active in politics and became the Republican Senator for Seattle. He maintained a special interest in POW and veterans affairs and in 1990 sponsored the ‘Truth Bill’, which forced the US government to release classified information on US prisoners dating back to the Second World War. |
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