| Date: 31 August 1968 |
| Aircraft type: F-4D Phantom |
| Serial Number: 66-8688 |
| Military Unit: 432 TRW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Udorn |
| Name(s): |
| Capt J R Wilson (Survived) |
| 1Lt William Louis Kinkade (KIA) |
| Another Phantom was lost after night fell during a strike on trucks on a mountain road 25 miles west of Dong Hoi. Capt Wilson (call sign Carter 2) commenced a dive from 6,000 feet but the aircraft burst into flames after being hit by ground fire. Capt Wilson ejected but 1Lt Kinkade may have been wounded or killed by the flak burst and did not escape. The pilot was badly injured but was rescued the next day by a USAF HH-3E SAR helicopter from the 40th ARRS in a dramatic rescue mission. The on-scene commander for the rescue attempt at first light was Lt Col William A Jones, the CO of the 602nd SOS. Lt Col Jones led four Skyraiders on an intensive search for Capt Wilson who was in intermittent radio contact with the SAR force. His aircraft was hit several times but Lt Col Jones persisted in trolling up and down valleys to find the downed survivor. Just as he found Capt Wilson and guided the HH-53C toward him, Jones’s Skyraider was hit and the cockpit engulfed in flames as the ejection seat’s rocket motor ignited just behind his head. He jettisoned the canopy to prepare to bail out but decided to stay with the aircraft when the flames died down. Despite severe burns he flew all the way back to Nakhon Phanom and landed safely in poor weather in a barely controllable aircraft. As Lt Col Jones lay on the operating table he insisted on reporting the exact location of Capt Wilson thus enabling a successful rescue later that day. Lt Col William A Jones was subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on his 98th mission. Sadly, William Jones was killed in the crash of a private aircraft in the USA on 15 November 1969 after taking up an appointment at Andrews AFB. The Skyraider flown by Lt Col Jones on his epic mission was destroyed on 28 September 1972, the last USAF Skyraider to be lost during the war. Phantom 66-8688 was credited with a MiG-21 on 6 February 1968 when being flown by Capt R H Boles and 1Lt R B Battista of the 433rd TFS. |
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