| Date: 10 September 1967 |
| Aircraft type: B-57B Canberra |
| Serial Number: 52-1510 |
| Military Unit: 8 TBS, 405 FW attached to 35 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Phan Rang |
| Name(s): |
| Maj Norris M Overly (POW) |
| Capt Gaylord Dean Petersen (KIA) |
| The elderly B-57s were still being used over North Vietnam at night, especially in the less well-defended southern provinces although even here the defences were becoming more and more efficient. Maj Overly was on a night armed reconnaissance mission when he spotted an oil tanker on a road about eight miles northwest of Dong Hoi. He put the aircraft (call sign Redbird 44) into a dive but it was hit in the starboard engine by AAA. Both crew ejected but only Maj Overly survived to reach captivity. While in the Plantation prison in Hanoi, Maj Overly nursed fellow POWs ‘Bud’ Day and John McCain back from the brink of death. On 16 February 1968 Norris Overly was one of three POWS who were released into the hands of peace activists in order to obtain useful propaganda for the North Vietnamese cause. This early release caused a great deal of consternation amongst the remaining POWs but Overly and the other two men were able to give useful information on other prisoners and the location, layout and occupants of the camps they had been in. |
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