| Date: 13 January 1965 |
| Aircraft type: F-105D Thunderchief |
| Serial Number: 62-4296 |
| Military Unit: 44 or 67 TFS, 18 TFW attached to 6234 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Korat |
| Name(s): |
| Capt Albert C Vollmer (Survived) |
| Aircraft type: F-100D Super Sabre |
| Serial Number: 56-3510 |
| Military Unit: probably 613 TFS, 401 TFW on TDY |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Da Nang |
| Name(s): |
| Capt Charles Laverne Ferguson (Survived) |
| On 14 December F-105s and F-100s flew the first mission of what was intended to be a limited bombing campaign against targets in Laos. The campaign was code named Barrel Roll and was aimed specifically at infiltration routes through Laos into South Vietnam through which the North Vietnamese were keeping the Viet Cong supplied. Just one month after the start of the Barrel Roll missions the USAF suffered its first casualties in the campaign. Targets on Route 7 and Route 8 were attacked in the early weeks of the campaign and on the 13th a major strike was planned on the Ban Ken Bridge on Route 7 at the northern end of the Laotian panhandle. The strike involved 16 F-105s from the 44th and 67th TFSs led by an RF-101 acting as a pathfinder. Eight F-100s armed with cluster bombs would attack the 34 known AAA positions around the bridge, and another RF-101 would follow up to obtain photographs of the expected damage. The F-105s dropped 64 x 750lb bombs and fired 16 Bullpup missiles at the bridge, destroying it early on in the raid. Unexpended ordnance was then used against the AAA sites but the aircraft had to make several passes at low level with the result that one F-105 and one F-100 were shot down and four other aircraft damaged. The Thunderchief pilot was shot down on his third pass as he fired a Bullpup missile while the Super Sabre pilot was shot down on his fifth pass. Capt Vollmer ejected about four miles from the target after his aircraft caught fire and he lost control. Fortunately, both pilots were soon rescued by an Air America UH-34 helicopter directed by an Air America C-123 that had been standing by to act as airborne controller in the eventuality of a rescue being required. The mission was criticised for continuing once the bridge had been dropped and loss of the two aircraft prompted charges by a US senator that the strike violated the Geneva Accords.
Albert Vollmer was one of several pilots who were shot down twice during the war. He had enlisted in the USAF in 1950 and had served as a B-29 gunner during the Korean War before commissioning as a pilot and flying the F-86, F-94 and F-100 before converting to the F-105. He was shot down on his third mission but was then shot down again on 17 August 1967 receiving injuries serious enough to curtail his flying career for over two years. |
You may return to your search results, go to the Search Form, or go back to the Home Page.