| Date: 22 January 1966 |
| Aircraft type: S-2D Tracker |
| Serial Number: 149252 |
| Military Unit: VS-35 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Hornet |
| Name(s): |
| Lt William Stannard Forman (KIA) |
| Lt(jg) Erwin Bernard Templin (KIA) |
| SN Edmund Henry Frenyea (KIA) |
| SA Robert Russell Sennett (KIA) |
| Four anti-submarine carriers saw service in the South China Sea and the Gulf of Tonkin during the war: the USS Bennington, Hornet, Kearsarge and Yorktown. Their role in the war was unspectacular compared to the larger attack carriers but they nevertheless performed important functions including anti-submarine patrols, search and rescue, sea surveillance, radar coverage and airborne early warning. The main fixed-wing aircraft flown by the ASW carriers was the S-2 Tracker.
On the night of 21/22 January a Tracker (call sign Gray Nimble 12) was launched from the Hornet to provide surveillance cover for the SAR destroyers that operated close to the North Vietnamese coastline and which were occasionally challenged by enemy patrol boats and small craft. Under the control of a guided missile destroyer, the USS Berkeley, the Tracker was investigating an unidentified radar contact when it suddenly disappeared from the Berkeley’s radar screen. Within a few hours of the aircraft’s disappearance Hanoi Radio reported that a US aircraft had been shot down in the Gulf of Tonkin to the south of Bach Long Vi island. The weather was good at the time of the loss and the sea was very calm, which might have made depth perception difficult for the crew. An extensive search was conducted in the Gulf for days afterwards and on 1 February a four-man liferaft from the Tracker was picked up some 150 miles from the aircraft’s last known position. On 14 March Lt Templin’s flying helmet was found in the same area as the raft. However, no trace of the crew was ever found and they were all declared dead in 1975. |
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