| Date: 23 January 1967 |
| Aircraft type: F-4C Phantom |
| Serial Number: 64-0773 |
| Military Unit: 497 TFS, 8 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Ubon |
| Name(s): |
| 1Lt Barry Burton Bridger (POW) |
| 1Lt David Fletcher Gray (POW) |
| The SA-2 claimed another victim on the 23rd when a Phantom on a MiGCAP mission was brought down. The F-4 flight was approaching Son Tay, 15 miles northwest of Hanoi, at 14,000 feet when 1Lt Bridger’s aircraft (call sign Shark) was hit by a SAM. The aircraft broke up immediately and the crew were fortunate to escape from the fireball as the aircraft tumbled out of the sky. Both crew were captured and spent the next six years as POWs until their release on 4 March 1973. It was not until 1970 that the airmen’s families learned that they had survived being shot down and were POWs. 1Lt Bridger was an experienced combat pilot with 52 previous missions under his belt but 1Lt Gray was a new addition to the Squadron and was only on his second mission over North Vietnam. Since his retirement from the Air Force in 1993, David Gray has been involved in the NAM-POWs organisation and the National League of POW/MIA Families. |
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