| Date: 16 October 1965 |
| Aircraft type: RA-5C Vigilante |
| Serial Number: 151615 |
| Military Unit: RVAH-1 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Independence |
| Name(s): |
| Lt Cdr James Franklin Bell (POW) |
| Lt Cdr James Leo Hutton (POW) |
| Although two Vigilantes had already been lost on operations in Southeast Asia, this was the first of the large reconnaissance aircraft to be shot down while on a Blue Tree mission. The aircraft had been flying over the region east of Hanoi looking for SAM sites and other potential targets and was just crossing the coast at 1,500 feet and 620 knots near Hon Gay, 35 miles east of Haiphong, when it was hit in the tail. The pilot thought that the aircraft (call sign Comanche Trail) had been hit by AAA but the navigator thought that the aircraft had been damaged by one of two SA2s which exploded behind the aircraft. Whatever the cause, the result was that the aircraft’s tail was soon enveloped in flames and after about a minute the hydraulics failed resulting in loss of control. By this time the Vigilante had flown about 10 miles further east but was still among the many small islands that ring the coast of North Vietnam between Haiphong and the Chinese border. Bell and Hutton ejected over the sea and got into their survival rafts. Lt Cdr Hutton attempted to activate his SAR beeper but after 30 seconds the battery went dead. After about 30 minutes they were picked up by local fishermen in their sampans and tied to the boat’s mast. Having watched the 1946 feature film ‘Two Years Before The Mast’ on board the Coral Sea the previous evening which told of one man’s crusade to expose mistreatment of men at sea, Lt Cdr Bell saw the funny side of this incident.
James Bell flew the F4D Skyray for four years before converting to the attack and then reconnaissance version of the Vigilante. James Hutton had been an air electronics operator and bombardier/navigator in the A-3 Skywarrior before he also flew in the attack and reconnaissance versions of the Vigilante. Bell and Hutton were on their 35th and 28th missions, respectively, when they were shot down, and they were both released on 12 February 1973. Both later retired from the Navy as Captains. |
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