| Date: 15 May 1967 |
| Aircraft type: F-105F Thunderchief |
| Serial Number: 62-4429 |
| Military Unit: 13 TFS, 388 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Korat |
| Name(s): |
| Capt Donald Lester Heiliger (POW) |
| Maj Ben Marksbury Pollard (POW) |
| Although most F-105 missions were flown in daylight the two wings did fly the occasional night mission. A night, low level strike on the railway marshalling yards at Kep was one such mission. Maj Pollard and Capt Heiliger flew their Wild Weasel aircraft (call sign Kaiser) ahead of the strike force to keep the SAM sites around Kep busy. The aircraft approached Kep at 17,000 feet from the east but about 12 miles from the target it was hit by AAA. Both crew ejected and Maj Pollard severely injured his back, which resulted in his medical retirement from the Air Force after the war. This aircraft may have been one of the specially modified ‘Ryan’s Raiders’ F-105Fs. Donald Heiliger was released on 18 February and Ben Pollard was repatriated on 4 March 1973. The men were on temporary detachment from the 80th TFS at Yokota during their tour in Thailand and Capt Heiliger was on his 42nd mission on 15 May. He later became a US air attaché in Uruguay, Chile and Israel. |
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