He summed up his experience in Vietnam as It was f****d. You guys are the best we have. The pilot Lieutenant J. M. Krommenhoek is Missing in Action. Got this forwarded in late 2017. And I still think of that crash not itself something that caused a loss of life, but something that reminds me of how significant the memory of wounded F-4 pilots, limping back to base in badly-damaged airplanes, was, and is, to those who served during the Vietnam war. And we were just below that weight when we left Danang AB, RVN from runway 17L on the 22ndof November 1966. Among fixed-wing aircraft, more F-4 Phantoms were lost than any other type in service with any nation. Only loss: 606058, destroyed on the ground during a VC attack on Tan Son Nhut, SVN on 14 June 1968. Presidio Press. Hes a real dope. Phew! Thank you for your sentiments. So that the pilot does not have to be utilizing his attitude indicator for this, the canopy rails happen to be canted downward at just the correct angle making it possible to perform the takeoff maneuver using purely visual references, e.g. I served from 1964-1968. They fixed it. Not that northern Laos is a very hospitable place to be, but it would give you a better chance for a rescue by an Air Force chopper. As lieutenants in our respective services, we knew only that something was wrong. I wondered what good it did to tell us there were guns, MiGs and SAMs everywhere. Joe Crecca would spend more than six years in various prison camps. Jan 12, 06:12 PM. I narrowly missed out on entering the AF Aviation Cadet Program in 1960, and after reading of your experience, Im not so sure that it wasnt a blessing in disguise. According to what looks like a reasonably well-sourced page on Wikipedia, a total of 3,032 aircraft were lost to hostile action during the Vietnam War (the actual total was considerably higher, as these numbers don't include Army rotary-wing aircraft), which means at least that many pilots were shot down (yes, some were shot down more than once, but they are way more than offset by the many aircraft that had two pilots). And after Scotty started the engines, the aerial refueling receptacle would only operate some of the time. Charge of the Light Brigade. The U.S records showing 5,607 helicopter losses[2]. Mr. Crecca was a POW for the next six years and three months until his repatriation on February 18, 1973. Two were pilots, two Air Force weapon systems officers, and two Navy radar intercept officer; both awarded an aerial-kill claim for each enemy aircraft shot-down. One of our F-4s was not delivered by maintenance. Bent the F-4 around after re-start and headed to his radial fix off Hue Tacan. Lt Cmdr Frederick P Crosby's plane crashed in a pond during the Vietnam War in 1965 (inset). He didnt understand that we were mixed in a huge gaggle competing for time on target, lugging 10 X 500# bombs, 400 miles from base, with marginal weather, fuel hungry, not in sight with each other? If I failed to keep this from them, they would reposition their anti-aircraft batteries and SAMs to make the target a flak trap, making this JCS target even more formidable than before. We can never let our politicians forget those lessons. And Ill salute only with that nickname fondly given him by my children, our Elder Eagle, who flew Linebacker BUFFS, along with numerous other often difficult taskings, during his 28 years in USAF. Thank you, Mr. Crecca! But, instead of cutting through my throat, as Id imagined, the blade moved away, cutting the helmet strap. There were no J-79s! Your writing is superb and I wonder if you have considered writing a book about your experience in the USAF. Site content may be used for any purpose without explicit permission unless otherwise specified. However, when your country calls, you have two choices, in 1965 you went, in 1969 you didnt. All my attention had been focused on escape and I had inadvertently bypassed the opportunity to use my emergency radio to make a distress, Mayday call. It must have occurred just before my own chute opened. I replied that I still had a positive lock to a radio nav-aid and if he could get us through the clouds I could get us to the target. I think of you often and was looking forward to seeing you again. Youre the best and always will be with me when I go flying. [10] Estimates of North Vietnamese losses range from 131, as documented in North Vietnamese records; to 195, as claimed by U.S. Without guys like Joe you would go to prison for writing what you just wrote. Others had knives and were, to my complete surprise, cutting the clothing and equipment from my body. What? In addition to the roof, the toilet was destroyed! They all worked too. We lost him in 2012. North Vietnam, pre-1975: Killing of Two American Pilots Shot Down Over North Vietnam IIR Casualty files | William A. Ott. At 0600, I awoke to the annoying buzzer of my Telechron alarm clock. Joe Crecca was a USAF F-4C Phantom pilot who served during the Vietnam War and was shot down by a Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) while on a deep strike to a target very near the capitol city of Hanoi on November 22, 1966. Only those who were there truly know! This description of your combat experience and captivity is the first time Ive heard it and that only adds to my admiration for you, Joe. The 366th TFW Gunfighters consisted of three squadrons; 389th, 390th and the 480th. I found out what its like to be a zoo animal except nobody threw me any peanuts. If none of the strike flights entered the target area, the MiGs wouldnt come up. October 26, 1967: A-4E Skyhawk BuNo. God bless you, Sir. And Ill always remember how you and Tom Nordberg stood up for me in Anchorage. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling that thinks nothing is worth war is much worse. Its Memorial Day, 2020. God bless them! https://airfactsjournal-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/06165124/F-4C-64-0755-480TFS-Da-Nang1000.jpg, https://airfactsjournal-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/06142440/Air-Facts-Logo340.jpg, COPYRIGHT 2011-2023, SPORTSMAN'S MARKET, INC. All Rights Reserved. From the back seat, I accomplished the fuel on-load at an altitude of 25,000 ft. having to use minimum afterburner on the left engine to stay in position due to the heavy load. Reading yours was dismal, doom and gloom. We were only two minutes from the target, descending through 14,000 ft. at a speed of 540 knots or about 650 miles per hour. Hap. J. W. Newhouse rescued, First loss: EF-105F 63-8286 (13th TFS, 388th TFW) shot down by AAA RP-6 July 1966, Maj. Roosevelt Hestle, Final loss: F-105G 63-8359 (Det.1 561st TFS, 388th TFW) shot down by SAM 16 November 1972, RP-3, crew rescued, First loss: mission-related TFR failure, 66-0022 (428th TFS 474th TFW, Project Combat Lancer), 28 March 1968, Maj. H.E. I quickly figured out that, because we were going to be late, our flight lead was cutting Alfa out and going directly to Bravo. The bomb release button was now hot! B/2/20 ARA #63-08597 A/C was shot down and after it hit exploded into flames. Sorry about your Dad. Pilots lost control in low clouds during a night flare mission. Despite my state of lingering shock, my reaction to his command was to pop the Rat and restart. Mr. Creccas response (farther below) displays considerably more class than that displayed by b fearn in this particular instance. He had the smoke trail spotted and wanted revenge. Mr. Crecca, The icing on the cake came when he admitted to the controller that he did not know his position, because his tacan was spooling; he didnt realize we were out of tacan range. 2013. That may be the biggest benefit from Viet Nam, a conflict which many would say yielded very few benefits, as you suggest. Thanks for your story, Joe. Soviet General Fesenko, the main Soviet adviser to the North Vietnamese Air Force in 1972, recorded 34 MiG-21s destroyed in 1972. You softy, dont deserve the freedom which we veterans fought and died for! Some US fighter pilots had actually scored aerial kills in WWII, and were fighting again in the sky's over North Vietnam; Colonel Robin Olds had shot down German aircraft in aerial combat,. Fritz was Nape. Dickens rescued) Amazing story Mr.Crecca, I for one, am glad you are still here among us mere mortals, thank you for sharing your daunting experience, you sure went through hell for 6 years and yet had the courage to ask Nixon for another F-4 Ed McGaa, Marine F4s, Chu Lai Mostly CAS. Dogwood 4 was an MND, Maintenance Non Delivery, i.e., no airplane! Joe- God Bless you & Scotty and all others that served like ya`ll ! How do you look in the mirror? Black Hills just changed So. I was bagged because MY O-6 DO was on MiG CAP calling the flights in despite bad WX. The F-105 was one of the primary attack aircraft of the Vietnam War; over 20,000 Thunderchief sorties were flown, with 382 aircraft lost including 62 operational (non-combat) losses (out of the 833 produced). What was the first C-47 plane shot down in Vietnam? He wasnt much of a story teller and I didnt think to ask him about his service until after he died. The United States lost 578 UAVs (554 over Vietnam and 24 over China). SMS D.R. Since 366thTFW maintenance was overtaxed having to do all of its around-the-clock 24/7 functions, the flight leader had to turn down two airplanes before he found one that was combat ready and airworthy. I never came face-to-face with either asshole but I emailed the flight lead recently and told him off that he was incompetent, got Scotty Wilson killed, cost the USAF an F-4, caused my Fathers premature death and was responsible for unimaginable hardships for Scottys widow and daughter not to mention my 6+ years in prison. Soviet General Fesenko, the main Soviet adviser to the North Vietnamese Air Force in 1972, recorded 34 MiG-21s destroyed in 1972. At this point, because of the unexpected turn, our formation was too bunched up; we were too close to each other to be able to provide mutual look-out support. But, I stuck to my story answering the same question in the same way each time. Yeh, the F-4s wings dont come off even from a SAM induced Spin. I always enjoyed flying with you and sharing a beverage. All told, the U.S. Air Force flew 5.25 million sorties over South Vietnam, North Vietnam, northern and southern Laos, and Cambodia, losing 2,251 aircraft: 1,737 to hostile action, and 514 in accidents. All this took no more than one second. I would like to hear from you at some point; [emailprotected]. Thank you for sharing this. Despite our brief conversation enroute to the tanker about pilots who had ejected from their burning airplanes prematurely (their aircraft flew on for long distances before going out of control) what happened next got my attention. On Sept. 12, 1968, F-100D pilot Capt. Approaching what should have been Point Alfa on our planned route, I noticed the nav pointer was off to the left when it should have been dead center straight up. May God comfort those families who still wait and wonder.]. | site designed by. His first pass was- G D- Chief, 200 long. I was way back in trail, tree top, plenty of time to do 2 football fields short. 83rd Arty 101ABN DIVARTY Btw, Uncle Walter was an anti-American, extreme lefty. Did a Korea tour also when enlisted. It was about 0200 hours and the flares lit up the place like day. During the Vietnam War Monika Schwinn, a German nurse, was held captive for three and a half years - at one time the only woman prisoner at the "Hanoi Hilton".The following missionaries were POWs: Evelyn Anderson, captured and later burned to death in Kengkok, Laos, 1972.She is still listed as POW. Many thanks for contributing this excellent memoirhope to read more of your writings in future, and wishing you many more years of life aloft: youve sure earned them! Dulles International Needs a name change. The Navy had it right (mostly) in equipping, training and tailoring tactical air assets. A SAM damn near got me and another my section leader. I flew Phantoms until leaving to fly transports for Flying Tigers and then Federal Express. I hope some day that our government will find the courage to ask what happened to the missing pilots whose names or Escape and Evasion codes and authenticator numbers were photographed by U.S. satellites long after the war was overDavid Allinson(8888), Peter Matthes (GX2527), and Henry Serex (SEREX) to name a few. This page was last edited on 13 January 2023, at 11:53. R.I.P Scotty. I looked around me to see hundreds of people, mostly villagers, including old folks and children. During the Vietnam War, thousands of U.S. aircraft were lost to antiaircraft artillery (AAA), surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), and fighter interceptors ( MiG )s. The great majority of U.S. combat losses in all areas of Southeast Asia were to AAA. Hes taking us direct to Bravo and right over Yen Bai! Without hesitation Scotty rolled smoothly to the left into a near 90 degree bank and applied right (top) rudder and held it for a few seconds while I looked for the SAM that was certainly coming for us. Ha! You have no skin in the game of life and freedom, do you! Subconsciously I probably realized I was sitting alone in the back seat of a burning airplane. As a former volunteer at the NMUSAF and the son of a now deceased USAAF WWII combat vet, I have always known that our country and our armed forces have been blessed with seemingly ordinary, matter-of-fact guys who do extraordinary things. The clouds were reported to be at 10,000 ft. Meadows Moments later, the controller asked us to change our squawk, so we could be located for a skyspot drop. They were all well received. I would not change a thing; glad I was able to serve. As it turned out, the two men in the Tulsa F-4 ejected safely. Muhammad Mahmood Alam was a Pakistani Air Force jet fighter pilot in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. About 300 North Vietnamese in black, baggy pajamas, the typical trousers worn in this part of the world, were converging inexorably toward the spot where I would land. Further, our leader was apparently unaware that the controller asked us to change squawk ONLY after we were some distance from the 100mm guns photographed around the Plain of Jars. Binh Duong Province. A MiG-21 of the VPAF which became the primary fighter-interceptor against USAF and USN aircraft. In the solitude of my tiny enclosure, staring unfocused at the floor, I said aloud, Todays the day, thinking this was the last day of my life. I took one last look at the horizon. No better tribute to a warrior and man then to be remembered by his fellow warriors 50+ years later. I taught math, physics, automotive theory and practice, and classical music in the Hanoi Hilton. 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