| Date: 6 August 1972 |
| Aircraft type: A-7A Corsair |
| Serial Number: 153147 |
| Military Unit: VA-105 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Saratoga |
| Name(s): |
| Lt James Robert Lloyd (Survived) |
| Another Corsair was lost over North Vietnam on the 6th after nightfall. A section of aircraft was flying an armed reconnaissance mission near Vinh when the aircraft picked up a signal indicating that they were being tracked by a Fan Song SAM radar and that a missile had been launched. The aircraft started jinking but at 3,500 feet and 300 knots Lt Lloyd’s Corsair (call sign Canyon Passage 407) was rocked by the SA-2’s explosion and the port wing started to disintegrate. The aircraft caught fire, the hydraulics failed and the controls stiffened. Lt Lloyd ejected as the aircraft pitched nose down. He landed safely near My Ngoc, 20 miles northwest of Vinh and spent the next few hours that night evading capture until he was rescued early the next morning by a Navy HH-3A SAR helicopter (call sign Big Mother 60) from HC-7. This daring rescue in the face of intense enemy fire from SAMs, 37 mm AAA and small arms resulted in the well-deserved award of Navy Crosses to the helicopter’s pilot Lt Harry Zinser and co-pilot Lt Bill Young.
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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