| Date: 13 November 1965 |
| Aircraft type: F-100D Super Sabre |
| Serial Number: 55-2795 |
| Military Unit: 481 TFS, 27 TFW attached to 6250 CSG |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Tan Son Nhut |
| Name(s): |
| Capt Charles M Summers (Survived) |
| The war continued in the South and the Super Sabre squadrons still bore the brunt of the ‘hot’ missions. Capt Summers’ aircraft was hit by small arms fire during a strafing attack on a VC concentration south of the Mekong Delta. Although barely able to control his damaged aircraft, Summers headed towards a friendly village but overshot it and ejected at very low altitude. He came down in some small trees in the middle of a swamp and was unable to stand. He crawled away from his parachute as he heard shots being fired and could not contact the circling F-100s as his survival radio had malfunctioned. An Army helicopter swooped in for the rescue but as it neared the ground it sucked up Capt Summers’ parachute which became entangled in the rotor blades causing the helicopter to crash. A second helicopter was then summoned which picked up Capt Summers and the crew from the first helicopter.
Charlie Summers had deployed to Clark AFB with the 27th TFW from Cannon AFB the day after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident and flew some of the first F-100 combat missions over South Vietnam. Following his ejection on the 13th (during his 124th mission) he was evacuated from Southeast Asia for medical treatment but returned in 1967 and flew a further 102 missions as a Misty FAC. Altogether, Charlie Summers flew over 350 combat missions during his tours in Southeast Asia. Post-war he became base commander at Osan, South Korea and commander of the 8th TFW in 1978/79. After retiring from the Air Force in December 1981 he formed his own aviation company in Montgomery, Alabama, not far from the Air University where he had been Dean of Curriculum in 1980. |
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