| Date: 7 June 1964 |
| Aircraft type: F-8D Crusader |
| Serial Number: 147064 |
| Military Unit: VF-111 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Kitty Hawk |
| Name(s): |
| Cdr Doyle Wilmer Lynn (Survived) |
| The day after Klusmann was shot down the Navy flew two more reconnaissance missions to the Plain of Jars. On the second mission an RF-8A was escorted by three Crusader fighters of VF-111 (one of them flown by the squadron commander, Cdr Doyle Lynn) which would attack AAA sites during the photo runs. Cdr Lynn’s aircraft (call sign Old Nick) was hit by ground fire which damaged the hydraulic system and he was forced to eject in the same area where Klusmann had been lost. A large-scale rescue mission was launched but the original loss position as reported was about 40 miles out. However, an Air America Caribou picked up Cdr Lynn’s homing beacon and on the following day an Air America UH-34 picked up Cdr Lynn from his hiding place in the jungle. Unfortunately, Cdr Lynn was killed on 27 May 1965 during a strike on North Vietnam. With two aircraft lost within the space of two days the US Navy’s introduction to the air war in Southeast Asia got off to a bad start. Soon after the second Crusader was shot down USAF F-100s refuelled by KC-135 tankers from Clark AFB flew a strike against known AAA sites on the Plain of Jars. However, the gun sites were difficult to spot let alone destroy and the Pathet Lao gunners would, like their North Vietnamese counterparts, exact an increasingly heavy toll on US aircraft in the future. |
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