| Date: 9 February 1966 |
| Aircraft type: A-4C Skyhawk |
| Serial Number: 149557 |
| Military Unit: VA-144 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Ticonderoga |
| Name(s): |
| Cdr Jack Lester Snyder (Survived) |
| Cdr Snyder, the commander of the Ticonderoga’s Air Wing 5, was leading a flight of Skyhawks on a road reconnaissance mission about 20 miles southwest of Thanh Hoa when his aircraft (call sign War Paint 546) was rocked by a huge explosion. An SA-2 missile had exploded close to his aircraft even though he was only flying at 500 feet and the missile could not have had time to guide properly. The Skyhawk was riddled with shrapnel from the explosion and a hydraulic fire started but later went out. Cdr Snyder disconnected the hydraulic flying control system and flew the aircraft manually for about 60 miles at 200 knots. The fire restarted and Cdr Snyder felt the controls go slack. Seconds after he ejected the aircraft broke in two just behind the wing trailing edge where the fire had burnt through the aircraft’s structure. Cdr Snyder was picked up about 50 miles from the North Vietnamese coast by a Navy SAR helicopter operating from the destroyer USS England. This was the first aircraft lost to a SAM since 19 December 1965. |
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