| Date: 23 June 1965 |
| Aircraft type: F-105D Thunderchief |
| Serial Number: 62-4319 |
| Military Unit: 357 TFS, 355 TFW attached to 6234 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Korat |
| Name(s): |
| Maj Robert W Wilson (Survived) |
| During an armed reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam, a formation of F-105s attacked a substantial bridge near Cha Noi about 40 miles north of the DMZ. During the attack one of the aircraft was hit in the rear fuselage by AAA. Maj Wilson flew northwest for about 20 miles but could not get the aircraft to climb over a ridgeline and as the aircraft was on fire, he ejected. The pilot landed in dense jungle and found himself hanging upside down in a tall tree about 150 feet above the ground. He managed to swing towards the tree trunk and found a secure resting place where he unstrapped from his parachute and called for a rescue on his survival radio. An HC-54D Crown SAR airborne command and control aircraft heard the call and directed a flight of four USAF Skyraiders to Wilson’s position. The Skyraider pilots spotted Wilson’s parachute and called in an HH-43 that had taken off from a forward base in Laos. The helicopter lowered a jungle penetrator down through the foliage and Maj Wilson strapped himself on and was winched up into the helicopter. Some 90 minutes after his ejection, Maj Wilson was rescued safely without ever having set foot on North Vietnamese soil. |
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