| Date: 30 March 1968 |
| Aircraft type: F-111A Aardvark |
| Serial Number: 66-0017 |
| Military Unit: Detachment 1, 428 TFS, 474 TFW attached to 355 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Takhli |
| Name(s): |
| Maj Alexander A Marquandt (Survived) |
| Capt Joseph W Hodges (Survived) |
| An F-111 crew (call sign Hotrod 76) encountered control problems during a night mission while the aircraft was still in Thai airspace. The aircraft began to pitch and roll and when control was completely lost the crew ejected safely using the aircraft’s unique escape module that separates the entire cockpit section from the aircraft and descends by parachute. Unfortunately, soon after landing near the wreck of their aircraft the M61A-1 Vulcan cannon’s shells started to ‘cook off’ and the detonations were interpreted by the crew as enemy ground fire as they were unsure if they were in Laos or Thailand. Sandy Marquandt and Joe Hodges started escape and evasion procedures and were eventually rescued by a HH-3E flown by Maj W Oldermann who informed the crew that they were, in fact, in friendly territory within Thailand. The cause of the accident was traced to a capsule of solidified sealant that was fouling the pitch/roll mixer assembly, which in turn caused the stabiliser actuator to jam. On 8 May an F-111 crashed near Nellis AFB, Nevada and the same cause was suspected. 66-0017 was the last US aircraft lost on a Rolling Thunder raid before President Johnson announced the immediate cessation of bombing north of the 20th Parallel. On 3 April the bomb line was moved even further south to the 19th Parallel. This effectively confined future Rolling Thunder strikes to the southernmost provinces of North Vietnam. President Johnson’s dramatic speech also announced his intention to retire at the end of his term. |
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