| Date: 23 August 1968 |
| Aircraft type: F-100C Super Sabre |
| Serial Number: 54-1922 |
| Military Unit: 136 TFS, 31 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Tuy Hoa |
| Name(s): |
| 1Lt Julius J Thurn (Survived) |
| Yet another 136th TFS aircraft was lost during a close air support mission over South Vietnam. A flight of F-100s had been called in to attack enemy troops near Duc Lap, close to the border with Cambodia and 30 miles southwest of Ban Me Thuot. 1Lt Thurn was making his second pass dropping napalm when his Super Sabre (call sign Litter) was shot down by automatic weapons fire. He ejected safely but had to evade capture by enemy ground forces. An attempted rescue by two UH-1 helicopters from the 20th SOS was thwarted by heavy ground fire but 1Lt Thurn was rescued by a Special Forces team from a camp at Duc Lap and then evacuated by a US Army UH-1. The 20th Helicopter Squadron had been redesignated as a Special Operations Squadron on 1 August. |
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