| Date: 17 July 1972 |
| Aircraft type: F-4D Phantom |
| Serial Number: 66-8772 |
| Military Unit: 497 TFS, 8 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Ubon |
| Name(s): |
| 1Lt G K Tushek (Survived) |
| Capt Wayne Gordon Brown (KIA) |
| Aircraft type: A-7C Corsair |
| Serial Number: 156792 |
| Military Unit: VA-86 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS America |
| Name(s): |
| Cdr William D Yonke (Survived) |
| Aircraft type: A-7C Corsair |
| Serial Number: 156771 |
| Military Unit: VA-86 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS America |
| Name(s): |
| Lt David K Anderson (Survived) |
| In a remarkable incident a Night Owl FAC Phantom and two Navy Corsairs were lost on a night mission about 20 miles southwest of Hué. The Phantom was guiding the Corsairs to a target using its LORAN navigation system to pinpoint the target. The three aircraft were in close formation as the A-7s dropped their Mk82 bombs simultaneously on the Phantom’s mark. One of the bombs exploded prematurely damaging all three aircraft. The Phantom (call sign Owl 2) became a mass of flame and both the crew ejected from the aircraft but Capt Brown was badly injured. At first light an OV-10 arrived on the scene and spoke to both survivors on their emergency radios. Capt Brown had injured his back and was unable to move. The FAC called in a strike to secure the area around the survivors and shortly afterwards a pair of Skyraiders arrived followed by two HH-53s. One of the helicopters descended below the low cloud but had to abort the rescue attempt when strong winds and turbulence over the mountains, in addition to ground fire, almost caused it to crash. However, before the next rescue attempt could be made gunshots were heard by 1Lt Tushek near where Capt Brown was thought to be hiding and the rescue commander could not regain radio contact with the Captain. The winds abated a little so the rescue forces returned just before sunset and a HH-53 from the 37th ARRS eventually winched 1Lt Tushek to safety in most difficult conditions caused by weather, terrain and enemy action. Capt Brown was originally listed as missing in action until declared dead in 1978.
Both Corsairs had also been damaged in the incident and Cdr Yonke’s aircraft (call sign Sidewinder 401) caught fire. He turned towards the coast but lost control as the fire burned through the flying controls. The commanding officer of VA-86 ejected just south of Hué and his wingman, Lt Anderson (call sign Sidewinder 405), managed to make the coast but was losing fuel rapidly and flamed out about 15 miles northeast of Da Nang. Both pilots were rescued by a USAF HH-53C helicopter from the 37th ARRS. Malfunctioning ordnance had been a minor but persistent cause of aircraft attrition throughout the war in Southeast Asia. |
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