| Date: 5 November 1967 |
| Aircraft type: F-105D Thunderchief |
| Serial Number: 61-0173 |
| Military Unit: 333 TFS, 355 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Takhli |
| Name(s): |
| Capt Billy R Sparks (Survived) |
| Aircraft type: F-105F Thunderchief |
| Serial Number: 62-4430 |
| Military Unit: 357 TFS, 355 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Takhli |
| Name(s): |
| Maj Richard Allen Dutton (POW) |
| Capt Earl Glenn Cobeil (POW (died)) |
| Phuc Yen airfield was once again the target for a major strike by the F-105 force. As usual the bombers were preceded by an Iron Hand flight but it was one of the bombers in the last flight that was shot down first on this raid. Capt Sparks, as Marlin lead, was leaving the target towards the north when three SAMs were fired at his flight about 10 miles west of Thai Nguyen. He took the flight down to low level but his F-105D (call sign Marlin) was hit by at least three 57mm shells. The aircraft started to burn as Capt Sparks jettisoned his cockpit canopy and turned west. The aircraft then suffered a complete electrical failure and when the fire became too intense Capt Sparks ejected at around 24,000 feet about 16 miles to the south of Yen Bai and close to the Red River. His flight set up a RESCAP orbit over his position until a SAR task force arrived. As a HH-3E from the 37th ARRS, piloted by Capt Harry Walker, hovered over tall trees four MiG-17s made a single pass and fired at a Skyraider but the pick-up continued successfully and Capt Sparks was rescued after he had been on the ground for about two hours 30 minutes.
Just after Capt Sparks’s aircraft was hit, an F-105F Wild Weasel (call sign Red Dog) of the Iron Hand flight was also in trouble. The flight was tackling a SAM site to the west of the target when Maj Dutton’s aircraft was hit by 37mm anti-aircraft fire that set the rear fuselage alight. Dutton tried to reach high ground but the crew were forced to eject near the Red River about five miles south of Piu Tho. Dutton and Cobeil were captured and flown to Hanoi in a VPAF Mil helicopter. When they arrived at the Hanoi Hilton they were both tortured for several days. Maj Dutton survived the ordeal but Earl Cobeil was beaten senseless by Vietnamese and Cuban interrogators and eventually died in captivity on 5 November 1970 after great suffering. His remains were eventually returned on 4 March 1974 and buried in Arlington. Richard Dutton was on his second tour in Southeast Asia when he was shot down. He had flown 100 missions with the 469th TFS before returning to Thailand to complete about 30 more before being taken prisoner. He was released on 14 March 1973. Like Capt Temperley on 27 October, Dutton and Cobeil had taken off as the airborne spare on 5 November 1967 but continued with the mission when one of the other Wild Weasels was forced to abort. They are recorded as belonging to the 333rd TFS in some records. |
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