| Date: 30 October 1967 |
| Aircraft type: F-4B Phantom |
| Serial Number: 150629 |
| Military Unit: VF-142 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Constellation |
| Name(s): |
| Lt Cdr Eugene Patrick Lund (Survived) |
| Lt(jg) James Raymond Borst (Survived) |
| During a raid on the Thanh Hoa Bridge several MiGCAP flights were placed to protect the strike force. The northern Phantom CAP flight was vectored onto a flight of four MiG-17s near Haiphong. Lt Cdr Lund shot down one of the MiGs with an AIM-7E Sparrow missile and then positioned his Phantom (call sign Dakota 204) behind the MiG’s wingman and fired another Sparrow. The missile accelerated away from the aircraft but suddenly exploded about 100 feet in front of the Phantom. The crew saw debris from the missile pass down the starboard side of the aircraft and shortly afterwards noted a loss of power from the starboard engine but continued to fight the MiGs for a while. However, the engine would only produce 73 per cent power and it was later discovered that the undercarriage would not lower. Although the Phantom was able to reach the Constellation, without a serviceable undercarriage it was unable to complete an arrested landing. Lt Cdr Lund flew alongside the carrier at 5,000 feet and both he and his NFO ejected and were picked up by one of the carrier’s helicopters. The Navy flew 97 sorties and dropped 215 tons of bombs on the Thanh Hoa Bridge from April to September 1967 with little to show for its effort. Gene Lund commanded VF-31 in 1972 while Lt Borst later got his pilot’s wings but was killed in an A-7 in the USA during an air combat training mission. |
You may return to your search results, go to the Search Form, or go back to the Home Page.