| Date: 20 October 1966 |
| Aircraft type: F-4C Phantom |
| Serial Number: 63-7518 |
| Military Unit: 433 TFS, 8 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Ubon |
| Name(s): |
| Maj Lacy W Breckenridge (Survived) |
| 1Lt Joseph E Merrick (Survived) |
| Aircraft type: HH-3E Jolly Green Giant |
| Serial Number: 65-12778 |
| Military Unit: Detachment 5, 38 ARRS |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Udorn |
| Name(s): |
| Maj Adrian D Youngblood (Survived) |
| 1Lt Edward G Burford (Survived) |
| A2C Gary R Meyer (Survived) |
| A2C Thomac C Davis (Survived) |
| During a Steel Tiger armed reconnaissance mission a flight of Phantoms attacked a truck park near Ban Kang in Southern Laos. On its second pass Maj Breckenridge’s aircraft (Avenger 03) was hit by automatic weapons fire. The aircraft flew about 10 miles to the south before the crew was forced to eject. A SAR task force arrived and ‘Jolly Green 21’, a HH-3E flown by Maj Youngblood of the 38th ARRS, dropped its hoist for one of the survivors. As the survivor, 1Lt Merrick, was being reeled into the helicopter it was hit repeatedly by ground fire and Maj Youngblood had to make an emergency landing in a field about a mile away when the engine oil pressure dropped to almost zero. Capt Leland Kennedy in the second HH-3E (Jolly Green 36) dumped fuel to reduce the helicopter’s weight and landed next to Youngblood’s chopper and took its crew and 1Lt Merrick on board before resuming the search Maj Breckenridge. The Major was spotted by an O-1 FAC pilot hanging in his parachute in the branches of a tree and Maj Kennedy picked him up under intense small arms fire from enemy troops. This made 10 men on board the helicopter but the mission was not yet over. After the rescue one of the escorting Skyraiders started to lose power so Capt Kennedy escorted the aircraft back to a safe landing. The downed HH-3E was destroyed to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Maj Kennedy was awarded a second Air Force Cross for this rescue, having won his first medal for a rescue on 5 October. |
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