| Date: 17 May 1972 |
| Aircraft type: A-7E Corsair |
| Serial Number: 158015 |
| Military Unit: VA-147 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Constellation |
| Name(s): |
| Cdr Thomas Addison Ricks Wilkinson (Survived) |
| When the Linebacker I strikes commenced on the 10th armed reconnaissance flights over North Vietnam were also restarted. A flight of Corsairs on a road reconnaissance mission found and attacked an anti-aircraft gun position 20 miles northwest of Dong Hoi. As Cdr Wilkinson was on his fifth pass his aircraft (call sign Jason 404) was hit by 37mm AAA and caught fire. A fuel tank had been holed and the pilot turned towards the coast and ejected about five miles offshore just three minutes after the aircraft had been hit. The pilot was soon rescued by a Navy HH-3A. Cdr Wilkinson had taken command of VA-147 on 4 February and survived the war only to be lost during a routine sortie off the Philippines on 29 January 1973.
HC-7 Rescue Helicopter Combat Support Squadron SEVEN (HC-7) was established September 1, 1967. While simultaneously providing several fleet support activities in the Gulf of Tonkin, HC-7 assumed the responsibility for North Vietnam naval combat search and rescue. HC-7 prepared for action using UH-2B Kaman Sea Sprite helos inherited from HC-1 and were stationed in detachments aboard small boys, destroyers (DDs) and Guided Missile Frigates (DLGs), patrolling off the coast of North Vietnam primarily for the purpose of Search and Rescue (SAR) duty. The information at the following link was compiled by Ron Milam, the historian for HC-7, from ship's deck logs, official HC-7 Rescue Reports, other official and unofficial documents, interviews with crew members and survivors, and other sources, including the Chris Hobson book upon which this site is based. The details for the rescue associated with this fixed wing loss can be accessed by clicking on this link. |
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