| Date: 19 May 1967 |
| Aircraft type: F-4B Phantom |
| Serial Number: 152264 |
| Military Unit: VF-96 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Enterprise |
| Name(s): |
| Cdr Richard Rich (KIA) |
| Lt Cdr William Robert Stark (POW) |
| Aircraft type: F-4B Phantom |
| Serial Number: 153004 |
| Military Unit: VF-114 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Kitty Hawk |
| Name(s): |
| Lt(jg) Joseph Charles Plumb (POW) |
| Lt(jg) Gareth Laverne Anderson (POW) |
| Aircraft type: A-6A Intruder |
| Serial Number: 152594 |
| Military Unit: VA-35 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Enterprise |
| Name(s): |
| Lt Eugene Baker McDaniel (POW) |
| Lt James Kelly Patterson (POW (died)) |
| The 19th of May 1967 proved to be one of the blackest days of the war for the US Navy with the loss of six aircraft and 10 aircrew over North Vietnam. The three participating carriers, the Enterprise, Bon Homme Richard and the Kitty Hawk, each lost two aircraft. The reason for the heavy losses on this day lies in the importance of the targets and the level of air defences that protected those targets. The strikes on the 19th were the first Navy raids on targets in Hanoi itself. However, the 19th of May was also the birthday of Ho Chi Minh and this may have spurred the defences on to new levels of ferocity. The first Alpha strike of the day was on the Van Dien military vehicle and SAM support depot near Hanoi, which had already been bombed on 14 December 1966 when two aircraft were shot down.
Among the first aircraft into the target area was the CAP flight of F-4s from VF-96 led by Cdr Rich, the Squadron’s executive officer. Volleys of SAMs were fired at the formation forcing the aircraft down to a lower altitude, which was dangerous due to the intense AAA and small arms fire. Cdr Rich’s aircraft (call sign Show Time 604) was damaged by an SA-2 that detonated close to the F-4. Two minutes later, with the Phantom even lower, a second SAM was seen to explode close to the aircraft at which point a command ejection sequence was initiated by the NFO. Lt Cdr Stark was knocked unconscious by the ejection and suffered compound fractures of the lower vertebrae, a broken arm and a broken knee. He landed about 20 miles southwest of Hanoi but there was no sign of Cdr Rich, who is presumed to have been killed in the crash. William Stark was released on 4 March 1973 and resumed his career until retirement as a Commander after which he worked for a city Police Department in California until his second retirement in 1993. The Kitty Hawk’s CAP flight fared no better when it took over about one hour later and it also lost one of its F-4s. The SAMs were still being fired in great numbers and despite violent evasive manoeuvres, Lt Plumb’s aircraft (call sign Linfield) was hit in the belly by an SA-2. The aircraft became a mass of flames, and the engines wound down rapidly. As the tail section began to disintegrate, the crew decided that it was time to leave and ejected near Xan La, 12 miles southwest of Hanoi. Lt Plumb recalls being captured by peasants and thrown into a pen where a bull buffalo was goaded by the villages into charging the pilot. Luckily, the animal was less than enthusiastic about the whole affair. The two fliers were incarcerated in the Hanoi Hilton, and Lt Plumb was released on 18 February and Lt Anderson on 4 March 1973. Joseph Plumb acted as the POW’s chaplain when conditions in the camps allowed such social activity. One of the waves of bombers that attacked the Van Dien depot consisted of six Intruders from the Enterprise. When the formation was 30 miles southwest of Hanoi they began to receive warnings on their APR-27s of Fan Song radar signals, which meant that they were being tracked by a SAM site. Flying at 12,000 feet Lt Cdr McDaniel saw an SA-2 coming towards his aircraft (call sign Ray Gun 502) so he rapidly jettisoned his bombs and made a hard right turn but the missile exploded directly in the path of the A-6. The hydraulics must have been hit as the aircraft became uncontrollable after a few seconds and the crew ejected about 20 miles south of Hanoi. Lt Patterson broke his leg on landing but hid for four days as enemy forces searched for him. A Fulton extraction kit was dropped to him on the morning of the 21st but it was recovered by North Vietnamese troops before he could reach it. The Fulton system consisted of an inflatable balloon and harness that enabled the airborne recovery of a person from the ground. It was used primarily by Special Forces and intelligence agents. One of his last radio messages was to say that he was moving further up a hill to avoid enemy forces. The fate of Jim Patterson had been the subject of much debate and mystery. He was not seen in any of the POW camps in North Vietnam but information suggests that he had been captured. There has even been a suggestion that Lt Patterson was taken to Kazakhstan for interrogation by the Soviets. He would certainly have known information that would have been useful to the Soviet Union but perhaps no more than any other A-6 crewmember and less than some of the other prisoners that the North Vietnamese held. Another report claims that villagers from Thuong Tien found Patterson, shot him and buried him quickly as there was a standing order for all prisoners to be turned over to the authorities. Patterson’s ID card and Geneva Convention card were handed over to the US in 1985. However, an investigation of the supposed grave site near Thuong Tien revealed no clues. Yet another report claims that the aircraft came down near Ky Son. Wherever the location of the crash, Lt James Patterson is still not yet accounted for and his case remains one of the most perplexing and intriguing of the many mysterious incidents relating to the fate of missing US servicemen in Southeast Asia. ‘Red’ McDaniel was captured almost as soon as he touched down and suffered very badly at the hands of his captors. He was released on 4 March 1973 and after his retirement from the Navy he founded the American Defense Institute, which includes in its aims the recovery of US prisoners thought by some to still be alive in Southeast Asia. The mysterious disappearance of his own backseater no doubt prompted ‘Red’ McDaniel’s quest for full accounting. In 1975 he co-wrote a book with James Johnson titled Before Honour which was reprinted as Scars and Stripes five years later. |
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