| Date: 30 December 1971 |
| Aircraft type: F-4B Phantom |
| Serial Number: 150418 |
| Military Unit: VF-111 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Coral Sea |
| Name(s): |
| Lt Cdr David Wesley Hoffman (POW) |
| Lt(jg) Norris Alphonzo Charles (POW) |
| A flight of Phantoms from the Coral Sea was sent on a Proud Deep strike on the city of Vinh. Lt Cdr Hoffman was orbiting at 20,000 feet some five miles east of the city when an SA-2 shot through the overcast beneath the aircraft and exploded near the Phantom damaging its tail. The aircraft (call sign Old Nick 203) became difficult to control but Lt Cdr Hoffman managed to cross the coast before he and Lt Charles had to eject. Unfortunately, the pair were captured before they could be rescued and became POWs. These were the first naval airmen to be taken prisoner in North Vietnam since September 1968 although Lt Bedinger, who was captured in Laos, had been taken prisoner in November 1969. Lt Norris Charles, one of the few black naval aviators to be captured during the war, was one of three prisoners who were released early to US peace activists in Hanoi on 25 September 1972 along with Lt(jg) M L Gartley and Maj E Elias. David Hoffman, who had ejected from a Phantom on 25 February 1967, served the full term and was released in Operation Homecoming on 28 March 1973. He was on his 205th combat mission when he was shot down, having previously served two tours with VF-96 on board the Enterprise. He was actually serving as Air Wing 15’s LSO on board the Coral Sea but still flew the occasional operational sortie. |
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