| Date: 24 October 1967 |
| Aircraft type: F-4B Phantom |
| Serial Number: 150421 |
| Military Unit: VF-151 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Coral Sea |
| Name(s): |
| Cdr Charles Rogers Gillespie (POW) |
| Lt(jg) Richard Champ Clark (KIA) |
| Aircraft type: F-4B Phantom |
| Serial Number: 150995 |
| Military Unit: VF-151 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Coral Sea |
| Name(s): |
| Lt(jg) Robert Franchot Frishman (POW) |
| Lt(jg) Earl Gardner Lewis (POW) |
| Seven hours after Kep airfield was bombed, the Navy and Air Force made a coordinated attack on Phuc Yen, the first time this major air base had been attacked. The raid was accompanied by several flights of Phantoms that flew CAPs over various points in North Vietnam. Cdr Gillespie, the CO of VF-151, led one of the Phantom sections. As the raid was flying down Thud Ridge, still some 13 miles north of the target, it was engaged by a SAM battery. Cdr Gillespie saw one of the SA-2s and dived to 14,000 feet to avoid it but moments later the aircraft (call sign Switchbox 1) was hit by another missile that the crew had not spotted. The aircraft burst into flames and the hydraulics failed leading to loss of control. The cockpit filled with smoke, the intercom went dead and Cdr Gillespie had to use hand signals to order abandonment. He ejected safely but was not able to tell if his NFO escaped from the aircraft although other members of the section reported seeing two parachutes. Lt Clark did not appear in any of the POW camps and was later presumed to have been killed in the incident. In 1991 the Vietnamese government handed over 11 boxes of human remains, some of which had been recovered in 1990 from an F-4 crash site that was later excavated by joint US/Vietnamese teams. However, it was not until 2014 that some of the remains that had been handed over in 1991 were positively identified as being those of Lt Clark and were buried in Tacoma, Washington in April 2015.
The other members of Cdr Gillespie’s flight remained overhead near Thud Ridge to provide cover for any possible rescue attempt. About 15 minutes later another Phantom (call sign Switchbox 2) was hit by a SAM. Lt Frishman was flying straight and level at 10,000 feet when it was damaged by a missile that exploded behind the Phantom. One of the engines failed and caught fire but before the crew could take any action another SA-2 exploded just in front of the aircraft. The Phantom immediately rolled out of control and both crew ejected. Lt Frishman thought his NFO, Lt Lewis, had been killed but the pair met up after more than four hours on the ground. However, both men were found and captured by the Vietnamese. Lt Frishman’s arm was badly injured when the SAM exploded but a North Vietnamese doctor operated on the arm removing the elbow joint and shortening the arm by eight inches. On 5 August 1969, after 18 months of constant pain and solitary confinement, Robert Frishman was released along with Seaman D B Hegdahl, who had fallen overboard from the cruiser USS Canberra on 6 April 1967, and 1Lt W L Rumble who was shot down on 28 April 1968. The North Vietnamese early release ploy backfired when Frishman and Hegdahl told the world of the torture and atrocious conditions of the POW camps. On 5 September 1969 Lt Frishman was awarded the DFC, the Naval Commendation Medal, the Purple Heart, and several Air Medals. Cdr Gillespie and Lt Lewis were both released on 14 March 1973. Frishman’s aircraft was one of those that had been loaned to the USAF in 1963 to train the Air Force’s first Phantom crews. |
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