| Date: 21 July 1966 |
| Aircraft type: A-4E Skyhawk |
| Serial Number: 150101 |
| Military Unit: VMA-224, MAG-12 |
| Service: USMC |
| Home Base: Chu Lai |
| Name(s): |
| Maj Hugh Neil Levin (Survived) |
| Even though Operation Hastings took up a large proportion of the Marine Corps’ air effort until the operation concluded on 3 August, the units from Da Nang and Chu Lai also flew armed reconnaissance and strike missions into the southern region of North Vietnam. On 20 July the area north of the DMZ up to Dong Hoi was designated by the Seventh Air Force as the Tally Ho area for a concerted interdiction campaign. As troops in the DMZ could not be attacked at this stage of the war, the Tally Ho campaign was intended to restrict movement into the zone from the north and west. The missions were monitored by a C-47 airborne command post and the strikes were controlled by O-1 FACs. The first aircraft lost on a Tally Ho mission was a Skyhawk that was hit in the fuselage by 37mm AAA as it was attacking a bridge near Xuan Noa, 12 miles north of the DMZ. The pilot headed out to the sea and ejected some 10 miles offshore where he was picked up by a Marine Corps helicopter. |
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