| Date: 22 November 1969 |
| Aircraft type: F-4J Phantom |
| Serial Number: 155889 |
| Military Unit: VF-143 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Constellation |
| Name(s): |
| Lt Herbert Clemon Wheeler (Survived) |
| Lt(jg) Henry James Bedinger (POW) |
| A section of F-4s from the Constellation was assigned to bomb a trail near Ban Nampakhon, 20 miles southwest of the Ban Karai Pass. The cloud base was around 8,000 feet, which necessitated a flatter than usual roll in on the target. Lt Wheeler (call sign Tap Room 110) rolled in at 360 knots and lit his afterburner, but the aircraft failed to respond when he tried to level the wings. The aircraft continued rolling and pitched steeper nose down. With not enough altitude to effect a safe recovery, the crew ejected. Lt Wheeler was eventually rescued by a USAF HH-53C helicopter from the 40th ARRS but Lt Bedinger was surrounded by enemy troops and captured. He became one of a handful of prisoners who survived being captured in Laos. During his captivity he was put in a cell with Ernie Brace, a civilian pilot with Bird and Son, who had been taken prisoner on 21 May 1965 when his Pilatus Porter was captured at an airstrip in Laos. Brace became the longest held civilian POW and the longest held survivor to return from Laos. His amazing story can be found in A Code to Keep written by Brace himself in 1988. Lt Bedinger was transferred to a prison in North Vietnam and was released on 28 March 1973. The exact cause of the aircraft’s loss was never determined but was thought to have been either a control failure, a stall, or anti-aircraft fire. |
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