| Date: 14 December 1966 |
| Aircraft type: F-8E Crusader |
| Serial Number: 149148 |
| Military Unit: VF-194 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Ticonderoga |
| Name(s): |
| Lt Michael Thomas Newell (KIA) |
| Aircraft type: A-4E Skyhawk |
| Serial Number: 151068 |
| Military Unit: VA-72 |
| Service: USN |
| Home Base: USS Franklin D Roosevelt |
| Name(s): |
| Lt Claude David Wilson (KIA) |
| A vehicle depot at Van Dien, five miles west of Hanoi, was the target for a Navy Alpha strike on the 14th. As usual a section of F-8s was assigned to fly a CAP over the target for the duration of the raid. As the Crusaders were flying over the target area at 6,000 feet one of the aircraft was hit by fragments from an SA-2 that exploded nearby. Lt Newell later reported that the aircraft (call sign Red Flash 408) was handling well and headed south, gaining altitude. However, a few minutes later Newell radioed that he had lost his hydraulics and the Crusader was seen to roll and pitch down and dived into the ground 30 miles west of Thanh Hoa from about 17,000 feet. No ejection was seen or radio transmission heard but as Lt Newell did not report that he had been injured by the SAM blast it was a mystery why he did not escape. Investigations and ground surveys of the aircraft’s crash site commenced in 1993 and three excavations took place between 2004 and 2006 in which human remains and personal equipment were recovered. The remains were confirmed as being those of Lt Newell and buried in Arlington National Cemetery in May 2007.
As part of the Van Diem raid an Iron Hand flight of A-4s were en route to the target area when the leader of the section became separated. After the raid Lt Wilson was seen flying alone at about 5,000 feet when his aircraft (call sign Decoy 513) was hit by an SA-2, about 10 miles northeast of Thanh Hoa. Despite repeated warnings by his wingman, Wilson’s aircraft kept on flying straight and level until it was hit by a second SAM, which blew the aircraft to pieces. Lt Wilson’s remains were returned to the USA and positively identified on 23 June 1989. These two aircraft were the last US aircraft to be shot down by SAMs during 1966. Between July 1965 when the first aircraft was lost, and the end of 1966, 48 US aircraft had been shot down by SAMs. One US report estimated that the North Vietnamese fired approximately 700 missiles during this period. If this figure is accurate then one out of every 14 missiles fired brought down an aircraft. However, the danger from SAMs was not just from the missiles themselves, but also from the fact that aircraft evading SAMs frequently dived from high altitude to low or medium altitudes where they were much more vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire. |
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