Thud Pilots (2018) - full transcript

Fighter pilot UHF
radio transmissions

Ready to defend the free world

It was called the world's most

powerful one man airplane

Setting a world record of

1,216 miles per hour in 1959,

The THUD was the largest

single seat, single engine

combat aircraft in history

It could exceed the speed of

sound at sea level



and reach twice that

speed at high altitude

weighing in at approximately

25 tons.

Entering the service in 1958,

the F-105 represented America’s

advances in applied science and

engineering.

Named Thunderchief, this

technological marvel could

deliver a greater bomb load

than American heavy bombers

used in WWII

My name is Hank Goetz and I flew



the F-105 at Bitburg, Germany,

in the 53rd Tactical

Fighter Squadron

where our primary mission

was one way nuclear alert

My first introduction to the

Thud was in 1961. Just loved it

from the moment I saw it,

of course everybody wanted to

get their hands on it and fly it

It's unique design was tailor

made for nuclear delivery

Carrying a single nuclear

weapon internally, the

high speed low altitude

penetration

guaranteed its delivery deep

into the threat

NEWS REPORTER VOICE

The Thundercheif is capable.

Yet everyone hopes

it never has to perform the

mission for it was designed

The growing geopolitical

tensions between the U.S. and

the Communist Bloc countries

were viewed as a clear

and present danger

The F-105 was the deterrence to

that threat and

neither the Soviets nor China

had anything comparable.

The missions we sat were

one way nuclear missions.

Headquarters decided that since

we were so close the the East

German border, that, if we were

lucky enough to get off in the

15 minutes that they said we all

had to get off, chances are the

bases wouldn't be there much

longer. So there was no reason

to plan return fuel because

the bases probably weren’t

going to be there.

So everything was one-way

missions. Enough fuel to get

to your target,

deliver the weapon

and then get out to what they

called a safe zone, where we

told there would be people

there that might help us.

I always figured the safe zone

it was someone else’s target

and it probably was.

We had these little kits that

they gave us when we went on

alert pad. We used to

go on for 24 hours.

but these little kits they had

everything from maps, to gold

coins, and a bunch of other

stuff, of course your target

material, and everything else

but it was probably going to be

useless I didn’t think my safe

zone was gonna be very safe when

I got there if I got there

In 1962, the Cuban missile

crisis sprung up

JFK fade in - go unchecked and

unchallenged, ultimately leads

to war.

This nation is opposed to war.

Hank - And the brass over in

Europe decided that due to that

blockade, that the Russians

would probably start harassing

our airplanes going in and out

of the Berlin corridor.

And so, in anticipation of them,

the Russians, harassing

airplanes or

causing some trouble, they took

my particular squadron

and we downloaded the nuclear

weapons and uploaded

sidewinders. And instead of

Victor alert, which was 15

nuclear, we set Zulu alert, off

the end of the runway, sitting

in the cockpit with

guns and sidewinders.

Just in case something happened,

we were never told what we were

allowed to do if

we could ever get airborne.

After a few days of that,

everything kind of cooled off

and we went back to normal.

The situation

had resolved itself.

Thud pilots would soon realize

their primary mission was about

to change,

and the F-105 would be forever

etched in history.

A red storm was rising on the

horizon.

Far off, in the once

French colony of Indochina.

First, the United States only

provided limited air operations

in South Vietnam

to support the South Vietnamese

army forces against Viet Cong

insurgency.

I flew L-19s on the Mekong

Delta in 1962. I probably got 50

missions, but you

couldn't call it combat because

we weren't in battle

so I forget what you called

it, but we would fly

low enough that were were

looking in the doors

of the huts. And then I remember

a guy came running out and he's

pointing a rifle at me and he’s

tracking and the gun, and

I can see it jump...oooh,

and it didn't hit.

He missed. So we would go back

and get a ranger company of

about 100 irregular,

some of them were Chinese, some

of them were Vietnamese, and go

back up and kill them all

I remember one night

they set off grenade next to

this two story hotel

I was in, in Can Tho, and so I

ran down. We all carried guns.

And uh...

There was a toddler,

lying on the ground,

just a baby. I picked him up.

And he didn't move but

his mouth kept opening and

closing.

I ran out into the

street, and there was a taxi,

I said, "We're going to the

hospital" and he said, he's not

gonna get involved.

I had a gun. So he got involved.

We went to the hospital and I

delivered the little kid

but that was it. So

I was there for flying the L-19.

And then we went

back in '64 and '65

for TDY bombing

and then I went back in '67,

'68 for the 100 missions.

Soon, the U.S. resolve to

contain Communist expansionism

would be tested by relying upon

gallant Thud pilots.

Given their unchallenged ability

and capacity to carry

a 14 thousand pound

weapons load, the Thud was sent

to be the primary

aircraft to deliver the heavy

bomb loads to the targets in

North Vietnam.

On March 2nd, 1965, the

United States launched

Operation Rolling Thunder.

It was no surprise it was code

name Rolling Thunder. After all,

the Thunderchief operating out

of bases in Thailand flew 75% of

all Air Force bombing missions

during this campaign.

This marked the first sustained

American offensive on

North Vietnam

and signaled a major

expansion of U.S. involvement

in the war.

Voice of LBJ on the phone:

We're off to bombing these

people, and over that hurdle.

And I don't think anything is
going to be as bad as losing,

and I don't see
anyway of wining.

The massive bombardment was

intended to only last six to

eight weeks and bring

North Vietnam's Communist

regime to it's knees.

It didn't.

As you know, we have lost

about 500 aircraft.

Attacking lines of communication

to other targets in

North Vietnam

Hi, my name is John Casper. I

was fortunate enough to fly the

105, the Thud.

It was the greatest airplane

I've ever flown and guys ask me,

they say,

"Well what's your favorite

airplane," and I go, "Well, it's

the 105," and

they'll say, "Why," and I say,

"It's the airplane

I went to war in."

And it was a delight to fly. And

I might add, I managed to fly

the F-5, the F-4 for a

little while. I flew the A-10

for a long time. I flew the

F-16. The last thing I flew in

the Air Force was the F-15.

And of all of those airplanes,

and it had a lot more capability

than the Thud, the 16 and the

15. The Thud was still the jet

that I really loved flying.

So there I was, 23 years old, a

jet fighter pilot and my first

assignment was Korat Air Base,

Thailand to fly combat. So that

was my initial training.

We got to Korat and lieutenants

were in short supply, I found

out. Most of the reason was,

everybody was busy getting

shot down.

And little did I know that I

was going to get to do it not

once, but twice. I mean by doing

it, I mean getting shot down.

On my eighth mission, we were up

basically trying to drop bombs

singly into a cave

in southern North Vietnam.

When all of a sudden somebody

yelled that they were shooting

at us, and the next thing

I heard was a big explosion,

fire lights came on,

all the warning lights came on,

and shortly there after, the

airplane basically started going

end over end on me.

So I ejected. And the funny

part about the ejection was,

about two days before, one of

the lieutenants in the squadron

had gotten shot down and

he said when he ejected, when

the canopy came off prior to the

seat firing, he said, holy cow

you can really see good with

the canopy gone.

Funnily enough, that's exactly

what went through my head when

the canopy came off and it's

just micro seconds from the

canopy leaving til the seat

fires, but that went through my

mind. Not I'm in trouble their

made at me, we just dropped

bombs on them, I said, I can

really see well out

of this airplane.

So what was I worried about, was

I worried about the people on

the ground that we just dropped

bombs on, no I was trying to

remember, do I put my legs

together when I go into the

trees or do I cross my legs.

Cause the last thing I wanted to

do was split a tree branch right

in my crotch.

Well I managed to come down

through the trees, I got hung up

for a little bit,

and then broke free and hit the

ground. Doing so I managed to

bite my tongue,

so I had blood all over me. But

I wasn't hurt at all. For that

one, it lasted about three and a

half hours I was on the ground.I

could hear people looking for me

Fortunately enough I went and

hid. I remember my flight lead

talking to me right after I got

on the ground and he said,

"We gotta go to the tanker

the rescue forces are coming,

stay calm, and call us in an

hour." So I waited what I

thought was an hour, he came up

on the radio, and he said,

"That's five minutes. You need

to call us in another 55

minutes." In training they tell

you when a the tree penetrator

comes down, do not

touch it til it hits the ground.

So what did the lieutenant do?

Well, I had to try to jump on it

before it hit the ground.

Due to static electricity,

it knocked me right on

my butt. I mean it was

incredible. So I finally got in

it, got strapped in the tree

penetrator, and tell them I’m on

the hoist you can haul me out.

Well, about that time, as I’m

coming up through the trees, the

helicopter had some kind of a

problem and he had to break his

hover and start going. So he

dragged me through the

treetops for about a quarter

mile. As far as I was concerned,

he could have dragged

me all the way back to Thailand.

When they got me on the

chopper, finally, and then the

next problem they had was,

they're trying to leave, and I'm

trying to hug and kiss everybody

in the helicopter. Which is a

common thing for guys who’ve

been rescued. So they finally

got me to settle down, gave me

an airline miniature booze, of

some kind, which they carry and

dropped me off at another base

in Thailand for the evening.

Believe it or not, the next day

after the flight surgeon looked

at me, I was back in the

the airplane, flying in the

exact same area I went down the

day before. So they didn’t give

me any rest at all. They said,

you're good to go.

I felt like there was nothing in

that airplane that I couldn't

get out of.

It could pull all the G's you

could pull, it could run as fast

as you could run it, it was just

a good airplane. And, you looked

good on the ladder.

It's been said that a dog is the

only thing on earth that will

love a fighter pilot

more than a fighter

pilot loves himself.

In 1966, after tours to Takhli,

Major Merrill Ray Lewis loaded

up man's best friend on a C-130

to accompany him on another tour

at Korat. He'd raised Roscoe

as a pup, and had named him

after his friend, Captain Roscoe

Anderson, who'd been killed

earlier in an F-105.

Roscoe never left

Ray Lewis's side,

would sit and wait for his

return when he flew off on his

missions up north.

One day, Major Merrill Ray Lewis

did not return,

and Roscoe nearly died

from a broken heart.

He wouldn't eat, and just sat,

waiting for him to return.

Major Merrill Ray Lewis

was declared missing in action,

and soon the 34th tactical

fighter squadron adopted Roscoe

Or maybe it was the other

way around.

Roscoe, now the official

mascot, quickly rose to the

honorary rank of colonel.

And pretty much owned

Korat Air Force Base

including the officers club,

and mission briefs.

He had his own chair, next to

the Wing Commander,

where Thud pilots would observe

Roscoe's response to the brief.

If he instinctively sat up,

poised and alert,

the pilots braced

themselves for what awaited them

over the target.

If he was asleep or bored,

the mission was gonna be a

piece of cake.

In 1975,

Roscoe died in one of his

favorite spots,

the Korat Officer’s Club.

I'm Giles Gainer, retired Air

Force Lieutenant Colonel,

who've been retired

about 42...3 years ago.

The F-105

was the greatest airplane in

the world.

When...

we first had the missions

going up North Vietnam,

we were not allowed to

bomb half the targets that we

ended up getting later.

But we could go to the

air fields and bomb them, we

couldn't go to forts and bomb

them. There wasn't hardly

anything we could drop bombs on

except maybe a

a bridge.

And then every time they

said to drop the bridge you

could see on the side of the

bridge there was a road

already taken care of. They had

already had every one of them

worked around.

The fear of the Soviet Union and

China entering the war

paralyzed the U.S. military.

For U.S. pilots,

compounding this threat were the

insane rules of engagement

and targeting decisions coming

directly out of Washington

The skies over North Vietnam

became a shooting gallery, with

the hunters becoming the hunted.

I'm Gary Barnhill.

I flew the Thud out of the

562nd Tactical Fighter Squadron

at Takhli, Thailand in 1965.

My tour of bombing missions in

North Vietnam was the last half

last half of 1965.

And at that time we could not

touch the SAMs.

We saw the SAMs

being unloaded in Haiphong.

We saw them being set

up, we had to over fly them

we couldn't touch em. Then when

they finally proliferated, and

were all over the place,

then they said, oh, okay now you

can get the SAMs. So that was

the biggie.

We had to over fly

the MiG bases, we saw them down

there. We couldn’t touch them.

We should have bombed their air

fields. Those two things

cost us dearly, later on.

Contrary to the skies over

Berlin, Tokyo, and even Korea,

the battle space over

North Vietnam was nothing like

anyone had ever experienced in

aerial warfare.

For the target planners, North

Vietnam was divided up into six

sectors, which they titled

Route Packages. The impregnable

Route Pack Six soon became

second only to Moscow, in anti

aircraft defense. The 1000 to

1100 mile round trip required

the Thuds to be refueled

airborne by KC-135 tankers,

prior to entering their intended

intended route pack. At

designated tracks, over

northeastern Thailand and Laos,

Thud pilots rendezvoused with

their flying gas stations to

get the fuel needed to strike

their targets deep into North

Vietnam. Sometimes it proved

deadly

Our targets up in North Vietnam

were about 7-800 miles away from

our base in Thailand.

So we needed to get on a tanker

every single mission.

This day, I was Dodge 2.

I was tucked under the tanker

taking on fuel at a

very high rate.

The wing man, Dodge 3, John Bets

was waiting to get on and

he called out in a

very authoritative voice,

"Dodge 2, you're gushing fuel,

you're gushing, back off,

back off, you're on fire,

eject, eject, eject!"

I backed off. I punched out,

it's what we call ejection.

What had happened was the tanker

which is pumping in fuel very

high rate automatic shutoff

valve didn't work, and so it

ruptured the internal tanks and

they vaporized around the body

of the 105, that went into

the engine and it ... all that

fuel blew up. That fuel that was

vaporized had been sucked into

the engine. A jet engine is just

a suck, squeeze, bang, blow.

Anyway,

the time from being on the

tanker to the aircraft blowing

up into two big fireballs

was six seconds. And

John Bets, who saw the whole

thing, reckoned that I beat

the explosion by one second

So I went from going

about 425 miles an hour over the

ground to, bam, zero. Opening

shock. Everything opened

automatically.

I now find myself three miles

above the ground, 14,000 feet,

hanging in a parachute.

My first reaction was,

was, "I can't believe this is

happening to me, this is

supposed to happen to the other

guy." It was about a ten minute

ride down from 14,000 feet

and awaiting me was a

menacing forest. In fact, one

pilot had been impaled on a tree

limb in the area of his

testicles, landing in that

forest. The parachute is not

like what you see in the movies

where they guide it around.

The parachute is stable. It's

literally like riding the

elevator down, you're just along

for the ride. You can not steer

it. Yet, I needed to find an

open spot, there were a few, in

the trees, to land safely.

We were taught in a

lecture in survival school

that if you take the little hook

shaped knife,

which you have in a pocket, and

you reach back here and you cut

these risers, and you cut these

risers, one of your panels will

blow, and you'll get a little

bit of momentum, and you can

steer the shoot modestly.

I’m hanging in the chute.

I look down at

that menacing forest.

I take the knife, and I

cut the risers.

With the risers cut,

I now had a little

bit of steerage and I was able

to find a spot in the forest

and basically land on my feet,

uneventfully.

So now I’m on the ground,

the other members of the flight

had aborted their mission and

they were now directing a

a helicopter from Thailand to

come and pick me up.

But they got low on fuel

and so the Dodge leader said,

we're Bingo fuel, we're out of

here, but you're golden.

The helicopter is inbound,

and he's reading your emergency

beacon from the little hand

radio, so you're okay buddy, see

ya. So great news, the chopper

is inbound, he's reading my

emergency beacon, but what

the heck. I thought I would have

a little fun. In the survival

vest, we had smoke bombs, we

had roman candle kind of flares.

So just for fun, I shot all this

stuff off. Big orange smoke

bloom, whatever, the helicopter

came in, he landed, I jumped in

we shuttered, we took off.

I learned later, he'd had radio

failure. He couldn’t find me.

And the only way he found me was

that little Fourth of July

display I was putting on down

there. So we landed back at

Naked Fanny,

Nakhon Phanom, which we had a

hard time pronouncing, we called

it Naked Fanny.

I was rushed off the meet some

General, and then after I got

released, I didn't get a chance

to thank the helicopter crew.

There were 183,000

aerial refueling in the

Vietnam war. I was the only guy

that blew up on a tanker.

So now I'm a TWA copilot.

We're on a layover in

Philadelphia. I'm having

breakfast with the flight

engineer, who I didn’t have a

a chance to talk to earlier in

the day, and he asked me, "What

did you fly in the Air Force,"

and I told him, "Thuds." He

said, "You flew Thuds?" He said,

"I was a helicopter pilot."

I rescued five Thud pilots

He said, "There was this one

crazy guy that blew up on a

tanker one second before it

exploded.

This was Bill Worstrum,

the pilot that rescued me.

Air refueling was an integral

part of the missions up north.

The KC-135 crews were

indispensable to the Thud, and

on many occasions enabled pilots

to return home safely.

Due to the fortified air

defenses within North Vietnam,

KC-135's would have to

penetrate into North Vietnamese

air space to rescue Thuds short

on fuel or suffering from

battle damage.

Technology was changing

aerial warfare.

radar controlled antiaircraft

artillery, new MiG fighters, and

Surfaced Air Missiles

known as SAMs made it lethal.

Soviet Union and China ensured

the North Vietnamese had one of

the most sophisticated

air defense systems

possible in the world. It was

effective. North Vietnam shot

down over 2500 U.S. aircraft

On April 4th, 1965,

the first Thud pilots of the war

were killed in action at the

vital target Thanh Hóa Bridge,

known as Dragon’s Jaw.

The road and rail bridge was

a strategic passage for supplies

and reinforcement for the

Viet Kong.

Losing three aircraft at

Dragons Jaw

was an ominous indication

to what lay ahead for the Thud

pilots. It was clear it was

going to be politically fought.

The first Thud pilots

killed in action were a result

of MiG's and lay at the feet of

Washington's nonsensical

policies, which gave

the MiG's free reign.

Their irrational and downright

dangerous orders, that all air

bases were prohibited targets,

meant the MiG's could only

be destroyed in the air.

News Reporter- They're saying

our failure to bomb the North

Vietnamese airfields

are costing you hundreds of

planes and hundreds of airmen

It’s based on our desire to

avoid widening the war.

We seek to obtain our political

objective, which is a very

limited objective,

the smallest possible cost of

American lives.

We think the present tactics

are best suited

to those two objectives.

It quickly became evident

American airmen would be nothing

more than sacrificial

pawns in a massive political

chess game between the U.S. and

two Communist super powers.

Crucial targets that would have

ceased North Vietnam's ability

to wage war were deemed off

limits by then Secretary of

Defense Robert McNamara.

McNamara exacerbated the

situation even further when he

began to identify areas

by 10 and 30 mile circles of

prohibited and restricted areas

of operations.

North Vietnamese used the rings

as sanctuary. Placing deadly

antiaircraft weapons to shoot

down Americans right within

the edge of the circles.

There were so many things at the

ROE in that show that made

absolutely no sense.

And the guy that invented that

POD formation should be

executed. The idea of

putting 16 airplanes together

and then slowly trolling across

at 18,000 feet

with all kinds of stuff

shooting at you,

MiGs coming through

missiles going through

the formation,

and you had to sit there.

But I remember trying to change

the tactics.

I was a Captain and the Colonel

said, "You're crazy. These

tactics were written in blood

and we're not changing them."

So we go in and right

away MiG 21's come out of the

Chinese buffer zone,

nail one of the F-4s,

blow into our formation,

nail one of the CBU carriers,

the other guys dump CBUs

the Weasels under the flight, he

gets hit by a CBU and kills the

guy in the back seat.

Only two of us made it to

the target. And it was the new

Wing Commander, the other two

had been shot down.

And I don't know what

happened to him on the mission

but, a week later he died of a

heart attack.

So it was just a bad idea,

But the idea that you got a

spot you can't go into then you

got targets you can’t hit,

even though you see guys coming

up to get you.

The whole thing was a mess.

I guess the thing that's

the scariest, it was one of

those stupid missions.

We're passing Gia Lam Airfield

going to the

Halong Bay storage area

all the way across the delta

and the missiles are just...

there must have been a dozen in

the air, they're just blowing

through the formation

right and left.

I'm number four in the lead

flight, so I'm stacked high

and number two

on the second flight

is next to me, and he keeps

moving in. I'm watching him,

I'm watching him.

But I'm also looking down at the

ground and there's a gun site.

It looked like a ring of fire.

Every time that thing fired,

there was a big ring of fire

on the ground and there would be

a delay, then all explosions in

the formation,

I thought, I'm getting that guy

on the way out.

So about that time, I'm watching

this missile come up at

10 o'clock and I think, uh-oh

that looks like me.

So I pushed over,

I went down maybe 1000 feet, and

it didn’t change. So I pull back

in formation and it's still

coming. But as it went under, I

rolled and it went under me

and when I rolled back it hit

the guy next to me.

And it was an enormous

fire ball

Bigger than the airplane

and I thought, wow, I didn't

know it would be that big.

But pretty soon the airplane

comes out still looking like a

105. The wings are still on it

But pretty soon the nose

dropped, and he was gone.

And it was interesting,

he was one of those

there were a few guys like this,

that knew they were gonna die.

Just scared to death,

but they went.

They gritted their teeth,

they stepped to that airplane,

and this guy was one.

He knew he was gonna die

and that was the day he died.

So anyhow,

that mission I always

used 60 degree dive

and I’d release at Mach 1 and

6000 feet.

And then full back stick.

And I figured dropping

at Mach 1, the bombs would be

subsonic, by the time they got

to the ground,

the guide said they might not go

off, if they were supersonic.

So I didn't know.

So I'm full back stick and I can

see the wings curl way up on the

airplane. And I say, well

I’m sure it wasn't oh,

it was as hard as I could pull,

And then a couple jinks

score the bombs,

now I lowered the nose

and lit the wick and

I'm at one point two six.

And I'm headed for Gia Lam

Airfield cause I know what

I want to do.

I got the gun armed,

site’s all set

and it was on the

east side of Gia Lam,

so I rolled over, pulled in,

max power. I must have been

one point two, one point three.

And I'm gonna empty the gun. Now

I know they said don't fire for

600, but I figured, if I fired

them all, what could happen.

So I'm laying on the trigger,

and it just, imagine this,

full power, burner going

everything's roaring, the guns

barking out 100 rounds a second,

and suddenly there is this

absolutely enormous explosion.

All the panel lights up, the

nose pitches way up and hard

left.

And that was probably just me

jerking on the stick.

Unfortunately this is when I got

on the radio and said I'm hit.

And I shouldn't had said a

thing

because now I'm

coming around, I'm over Hanoi

thinking, I've got a crippled

bird,

but the air turbine motor

restarts.

I'm going, wow.

So, the generator restarts.

Pretty soon everything's back

on, I'm back in burner,

lowered the nose, kicked it up

to Mach 1 I’m headed out.

And I get on the tanker,

the other guys say,

"what are you doing here?

laughing

I said I don't want

to talk about it.

laughing

The Rolling Thunder campaign now

in it's second year had reached

a new phase.

In 1966, with no hint of

diplomatic progress,

President Johnson began to take

the gloves off. The first

petroleum oil and lubrication

storage site four miles

from Hanoi was cleared to

strike. Thud losses continued to

mount to levels where

pilots began to wonder if they

were strapping into their

cockpit

or their coffin.

Over 100 Thud Pilots would spend

close to seven years in

nocuous Vietnamese prisons.

My name is Murphy Neil Jones.

I'm retired Air Force Colonel.

In 1966, I volunteered

to go back TDY and finish up my

100 missions,

and on June 29th, 1966, I was

one of the handful of us that

were selected to hit Hanoi for

the first time and we had

bombed all over North Vietnam

for all those years, but

on this particular day,

President Johnson had personally

approved an attack within the

30 mile radius of Hanoi, and

our target that day was the

Hanoi POL.

There were 24 F-105s taking part

in this raid. I happened to be

in the last flight, flying the

number two position that day and

we were carrying eight

750 pound bombs.

When we crossed into

North Vietnam from Laos in the

last 50 miles in, it was nothing

but anti aircraft fire and

suddenly I took a direct hit

just in front of the cockpit.

I was in a slight right bank and

the round hit just under my feet

coming up into the cockpit.

The whole bottom of the airplane

disappeared and I squeezed the

triggers and went through the

canopy, parachute opened.

I never swung.

I hit the ground and about 100

yards away were about 30

North Vietnamese soldiers with

AK-47s running toward me.

Pull my trusty 45 automatic that

I had on my right hip and

looked down to my left side and

my arm was completely broken

about three inches below the

the shoulder.

Shoulder was dislocated and I

cocked it leveled down on him

and when I did that, they all

dropped on the ground and level

their AKs towards me

and I guess at that point I

decided that I wasn't John Wayne

Raised my hand over my head of

course couldn't raise

the left one.

One of the other soldiers came

running up and grabbed the

left arm and he put it in a

hammerlock.

I'm a big guy and I was in

a lot better shape back in those

days, having played football,

played center and linebacker

at Tulane.

And I hit this guy harder than

I've ever hit anybody in my life

and I shattered his face.

They put a rope around my neck.

They stripped me of all my

clothes, left me standing in a

pair of white under shorts and a

white tee shirt. Nobody spoke

English.

As it turned out,

I had six broken vertebra,

both my ACLs and my knees

were knees were torn,

shrapnel on both legs,

dislocated shoulder with a

broken arm

and lots of cuts and bruises.

That time I said,

"I'm badly injured." He said

later, "What is your name?"

I gave that to him.

He said, "What is your rank?"

I said, "Captain."

Then he said, "What bases did

you take off from?"

I said, "I can't tell you that.

I can only give you my name,

rank, serial number, date of

birth"

And they grabbed the broken arm

dragged me out in the middle

of the floor and when

they did that, they least

relocated the shoulder

put the arm in a hammerlock,

tied my ankles

tightly with ropes,

put my arms behind my back

tied the wrists very tight

with ropes.

Then pull the elbows together

and tied at the elbows till

the elbows till touching

and then they put another rope

but from the ankles up to the

rope that was around the elbows

and pull me up backwards,

and they started kicking

and beating.

This went on,

I'm guessing two or three hours.

They untied my arms,

led me outside with a rope

around my neck

made me kneel on

the ground.

One of the soldiers walked up

behind me and he stuck his rifle

to the back of our head,

stood there a couple seconds

and pulled the trigger

on the empty chamber,

now what do you think when

you think you're going to die?

I really didn't care

at that point.

I was hurting so bad.

This is over about five hours

And then I said, "You know

yeah

they're not going to kill me?"

But when I heard the click,

the funniest thought went in my

went through my mind. I said,

"damn, that's a slow bullet."

I didn't know whether I was dead

or just waiting for

something to to feel.

And then three photographers

came out of the building,

took some pictures and

movies of me there,

took me back inside afterwards

retied the arms, the same way,

retied or put a blindfold on me

this time they swung me

up into the back of the truck.

I really hurt when I came down

on the broken arm

and we will take about an hour

ride through part of Hanoi that

was filled with a Vietnamese

that lived there,

throwing bricks, rocks, whatever

they could. We ended up at the

International House where

they're having this huge press

conference. They kept me out in

kind of a court yard, and

I hadn't had anything to drink

since I had been shot down

and I was thirsty, and I said,

"I need some water, and he

said "later." And I said,

"I'm not going anywhere until I

get some water."

Well, I ended up getting

a large glass of water with ice

in it,

which I drank and that would be

the last water for two days,

and then they took me in.

My thoughts were, don't

embarrass my country.

I felt that I had already failed

by giving them any information

whatsoever and all it was was

name, rank and so forth, but

I just felt like I had let my

country down and I wasn't gonna

do it in front of these cameras.

So, I walked in, stood up as

straight as I could and saluted,

and I guess this film was later

used and our jungle survival

school in the Philippines

and they were,

people that saw it, were told

as they see this is the way

you should conduct yourself even

the Vietnamese appreciate

military bearing.

Well, that wasn't true

because I had the devil

beat out of me that night and

for the next 10 days

at the Hanoi Hilton.

On the ninth day,

I really broke.

I gave up

totally

physically,

spiritually,

mentally

because I finally signed the

confession they put it in front

of me.

I still remember it

word for word.

I condemn the United States

government for its

aggressive war against the

Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Two, I've encroached

upon the airspace of the

Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Three, I'm a war criminal,

and four I have received

humane and lenient

treatment from the

Vietnamese people in government.

I signed that.

They put me in a cell in the

Hanoi Hilton in a little section

we call heartbreak hotel.

I was in cell four,

90 inches by 90 inches,

two concrete bunks,

leg irons embedded in the bunks.

My right leg had become badly

infected from the shrapnel.

No medical attention.

Maggots were starting to form on

it and was turning black and on

that ninth day, a female guard

came in

and she looked at the leg

and she pull something off.

Stuff shot out of it.

She screamed and left, came back

with the interrogator,

and they talked with me said,

"Your leg is very bad we must

cut it off,"

and I said, "No, you're not

cut my leg off. I'd rather die."

So, Neil Jones gave up and I

wanted to die.

That night. They put a guy in

the cell next to me in cell 3

No sooner had the guard

left when the voice came out,

"Where is Neil Jones?"

And I tell you what, just

hearing my name by another

American, I must have bounced

the foot off that bunk and I

said "Right here, who's that?"

And the voice came back said,

"Neal, this is Dave Hatcher."

And Dave Hatcher was a good

friend, a captain, F-105 pilot.

Dave was shot down, oh, at least

30 days before I was, and we

didn't know what had happened to

him, whether he was alive or

dead. And I said, "My God, Dave,

you don't know how good it is to

hear your voice. How did you

know I was here?"

He said,

"Well, I was in a camp near here

called the zoo

and we have loud

speakers in each cell

and every morning and every

night they play the

voice of Vietnam or

Hanoi Hannah, as we call it.

It was the 30 minute propaganda

broadcasts in English aimed to

the soldiers in South Vietnam."

He said, "The same day you

were shot down,

they announced it that night."

So, at least I knew my family

knew I was alive.

I asked Dave how he was,

and he said he was fine.

And then he asked me how I was,

and I said, "Dave I think

I'm going to die."

He said, "There's only one thing

to do and that's to pray a lot.

I pray all the time."

Well, I prayed that night,

not for why me God, but

give me the strength to

to do what I have to do, and I

finally slept a little that

night,

and I woke up the next day

and I knew I was going

to get out of there

and never gave up after that.

I found out four years

later that Dave had just been

tortured when he told me that.

He happened to be in the large

group that was paraded

through Hanoi and the crowd got

out of hand and a lot of guys

were beaten in that, but my raid

had precipitated the other

march, but he'd never said

anything to him, but I had

the opportunity to tell Dave

thanks in Washington DC at the

White House.

He had his daughter

and I told her

how her Dad had

saved my life that night.

But I go back and I look at

the guys that I flew with

the guys that I was

in prison with

a bunch of band of brothers

He who shares his blood with me

shall forever be my brother

They’re the best friends

I've ever had.

One thing I learned,

one of my dearest friends in my

whole life

is a guy named Vic Vizcarra.

Vic and I checked out in the

Thud together,

were in Japan, same squadron,

flew combat together

and he escorted my wife

and two young kids back to the

United States

and I never forgot

forgot that

appreciate it more

than anybody knows

but a band of brothers.

Jet noise...

For Thud pilots,

flying missions over

North Vietnam came down to

beating the odds.

Logging the combat missions

was the easy part.

radio and combat sounds

Thud pilots either survived

or got shot down.

It was the being brought

down part where it

became the roll of the dice.

They would either be killed,

captured

or rescued.

They were betting on the latter.

Well, I'm Denny Jarvey went

through training at Nellis

and prior to that, I had been

flying the F-101B in Charleston

chasing Russian bears that were

going down to Cuba,

laughing

and prior to that I flew the

F-102. So, when I transitioned

in the F-105,

I already knew

I could fly the airplane, that

was not an issue.

It was learning how to

fight with it. That's a whole

nother story.

The F-105 was really well suited

for the mission that we had

in the Hanoi area

that we could carry very heavy

bomb load.

It could take a really beating

and still bring it back.

I was lucky.

I didn't have a scratch.

I never, ever, I didn't have

a hole in the airplane.

Nothing.

Not even scratched paint.

Not True for the guys

I was flying with.

The Thud was terrific for this

particular mission.

It was fast.

Matter of fact, there's a fellow

named Byers that had been hit by

a MiG-21

and Atoll that

hit him

was still stuck in the fuselage

of the aft end of the airplane

just underneath the rudder, and

with this great big gaping hole,

and there's pictures that are

around of people standing,

well, the Thud’s a pretty big

airplane, you’ve gotta be up

on a ladder to be able to get

your body up into the wing, but

with huge holes,

and it brought you home.

I happened to be

at Korat

and we learned that

President Johnson was coming

to town.

Well, it is a big deal,

you know, and so they

kicked everybody

out of the club.

So I had my scotch in hand, and

General Momyer looked on the bar

and he pointed at me and said,

"You, you big guy get over there

and you tell the President what

you just did."

Well, it turned out it happened

to be the mission right after

the Dormer Bridge raid.

So, I told him about that

and I happened to be the last

guy that rolled in on the target

on that particular sortie and

it was an active day, but

when I looked down at the

bridge, I could already see

several of the spans were

already in the water.

So it turned out to be

quite an event.

Thuds continued to be shot down

as the war escalated with no end

in sight, and

to add insult to injury,

a new war had emerged

and it wasn't in Vietnam.

Americans back home suddenly

began to side with the enemy and

began to protest.

Pilots, risking their lives were

suddenly being labeled as

child killers.

But for the pilots,

the war went on.

I flew another 20 missions and

on the 14th September

we were going up to hit

a railroad bridge

north of Hanoi.

Interestingly enough, there was

also a MiG base

right near the bridge.

I was number four in the flight.

We raced along a low altitude,

actually came right over the top

of Hanoi that day

at low altitude.

About three surface to air

missiles came through the flight

That scared the crap out of me.

So, I broke one way and I

guess the rest of the flight

went the other way.

So I rolled in and, I dropped

eight, 750 pound bombs and as I

pulled off, I actually saw them

hit the bridge luckily enough,

and I watched the span that

dropped into the river.

So, I said, "Man, that's great",

and I called, I said, "Four is

off" and the flight lead says,

"You're where?".

I said, "Four is off". He said,

"Well, we're 20 miles away.

We'll come back and get you,"

and just about that time there

was a MiG-17

probably 1500 feet from me,

and it looked like he was

shooting at me.

So....he was here.

I'm here, he's here, about to

shoot my watch off,

and I remember the guys in

training told me about this

maneuver that we never did.

It was called a High G roll

underneath, and I said, "Well

this might be the

time to try this."

Well I did that and now I’m

pointed straight down,

no airspeed

in about maybe 4,000 feet above

the ground.

So, now I light the afterburner,

and I probably pulled out at

about 500 feet. When I got

enough speed going,

and I decided it was time to

leave the afterburner in and get

the hell out of Dodge.

So, I turned east

because we're gonna go out over

the Gulf of Tonkin and then come

back. So they just said, "Head

for the coast, we'll rejoin out

over the water." So, now I'm a

singleton running along, and

we were actually,

I thought it was further south.

We were about 20 miles

south of China. At least that's

where I was. Shortly thereafter

I saw it, you know,

as I'm heading for the

coast, going about

five-fifty

and not in afterburner, and I

saw this little glint of a

spark or something.

And I looked over

and here comes a MiG-21.

So, I said, "Well, I'll give

him a turn".

I turned a little bit and I said

"This is not gonna work out well

at all", and I could just see

the coast

out in front of me.

And I knew that MiG wasn't

with me cause there's

no way he could hang with me.

So, I came out of afterburner,

and started to climb

and as I crested the ridge line

all hell broke loose.

I mean I've watched part of my

wing come off

fire light came on again and as

I was told later by the guys

the in flight, I didn’t hear

this because I think I was

breathing so hard and

I was scared.

totally scared at this point

because I'd been here before and

I'm going not again

and then I just

crossed the waterline

and about 500 feet

I said, "It's time

to get out of this thing."

Did the normal ejection

the canopy didn't come off.

So, I just

squeezed the ejection triggers

and went through the canopy

and I remember tumbling

very, very violently,

and then I hit the water. I have

no idea

what happened

and the flight lead said

he went in with the airplane.

So they actually started

heading for the tanker

and I went down in the water.

I was all tied up in

the parachute.

Fortunately I carried a knife on

my left side. I got that knife

and I started cutting away.

So, I started sawing away and I

remember I looked up, it was

late afternoon and I could,

I kind of looked up and I

said, "Wow, I'm gonna drown

what a crappy way to go."

Finally got to where I could

get to one water wing.

I opened I deployed it

and that was enough to bring

me back up to the surface.

So, I got the other one and then

I cut my way out of

the parachute.

They said that from when the

airplane hit little over a

minute then he heard the

distress beacon

come on. So they figured

I was in underwater

for about a minute.

Got into my life raft, which I

still had and pulled up my

trusty radio, but at

that point then I carried

two radios

instead of just the normal one.

Call my flight lead and told

them I'm alive and I'm in my

life raft and come get me

and he said, "We gotta go to the

tanker and we'll get the rescue

forces coming."

Well, when they said forces, I

thought it'd be an Armada like

I saw the first time.

Well, it turned out the

rescue Armada was gonna consist

of one Navy helicopter

and two Navy A-1s because we

were so far north, it turns out

I was, I had managed to bail out

in a major shipping lane that

they ferried supplies from

China down to North Vietnam

So the islands were

heavily defended.

There were guns everywhere

and I guess they thought I had

gone in with the airplane

because not much went on for

about the first 45 minutes

to an hour

All of a sudden

I started

hearing gunfire

and I'm going, oh oh, maybe

they know I'm here and now

I see boats starting to come

and I'm going this is not gonna

to be a good day for me.

It's a long haul from here to

prison and I really didn’t want

to play that game.

A little bit later.

I hear a lot of gunfire.

And my flight lead said

that the rescue forces are

trying to get in the Navy

helicopter and I learned this

later when I met the guy who

flew the helicopter and one of

the A-1 pilots.

They tried three different

routes to get in to get me,

and that was when I started

hearing a lot of gunfire and

they had to turn around each

time because of the

severity of the gunfire and in

fact the helicopter crew took a

vote to see if they wanted to

try it again.

Well, they did. They found

another way in.

I’m exhausted, you know, the

adrenaline and the excitement

and maybe I'm going to get

outta here and of course

I’m looking. I said there's two

A-1s and that's it.

And this chopper and everybody's

getting a crap shot out of them.

So, here we go the helicopter.

I'm in the hoists underneath,

they're bringing me up

and the two A-1s

are

flying around out in front

of us

strafing beaches as we go

along because they're getting

shot at the whole time.

So they get me about,

it’s kind of like the first time

about 40 feet from the

helicopter, from the door

and the hoist breaks.

So now,

we’re getting out of there

they’re getting shot at and

I'm swinging around underneath

the helicopter going, "Oh man,

this is gonna be a long trip."

When they finally figured out

how to get me up.

So, they get me up

into the helicopter.

Now it's the same deal.

I want to go hug

and kiss everybody.

and say thanks.

They're busy.

They had two guns in

one on each side of the

helicopter.

and they're blazing away

with these machine guns and

I want to hug them.

So, they actually let me

shoot one of the guns

for a second,

and then they

finally said that's enough of

that and they strap me

to the floor

to get me out of the way.

So, I was saved

and they too have booze

on the helicopter,

so they gave me a couple of

miniatures to calm me down.

Then I got to thank everybody

And then now

now the adrenaline’s gone.

I'm exhausted, which was

which was really, really great.

Hollywood has always portrayed

fighter pilots as fearless,

steel cold men with

a fixation for flying women and

booze in no particular order,

but in actuality

they've just been Americans with

a deep love of country and

diligence to unsheathe the sword

of freedom

kept sharp by their willingness

to live on its edge.

Karl Richter knew he would be a

fighter pilot at a very young

age by 18 months old, he was

already climbing a ladder to

the top of their barn

to join his dad on the roof.

His infatuation with heights

persisted, and his family

would spot him at the top of the

trees and the windmill on

their property.

By age 18,

he was already a pilot.

Was living his dream at

the U.S. Air Force Academy.

By the time he was 22,

he was flying the Thud.

Didn't take long for him

to make military history.

By 23,

he'd become the youngest pilot,

in the U.S Air Force to shoot

down a MiG.

UHF pilot radio transmissions

As operation Rolling Thunder

intensified and dragged

on well past its

initial eight week plan,

More Thud pilots were needed.

A short temporary duty

cycling of pilots from Thud

squadrons based in Japan and the

U.S. to Thailand wasn't working.

Military orders, we're now going

to have to be permanently

assigned to pilots to complete

100 combat missions

one counter...one for the month

ninety-nine hard ones to go

Extraordinary times require

extraordinary gallantry and

faith.

A faith not only in

country and family,

but a power greater than

themselves with a

here I am,

send me conviction

Men like Karl Richter.

How are you gonna explain to

the wife that,

you put in for concurrent tour

you know, you going to take

flying over her?

Yeah, it wouldn't happen

Yeah, that's why

I'm sticking around.

You know that's why I guess.

The flying is good

and it’s

it's the kind of deal

like everybody says, yeah

that I'm waving the flag,

but I'm not. At the same time,

you know, where are going to

where are you going to stop at?

You know

where is...where's communism?

You going to wait until there're

in the

Philippines?

Or in Australia or

San Fransisco or the

Hawaiian Islands?

You know.

Do we stop it here or wait untl

somewhere later on?

I don't think most the

people think about that.

By the age of 24,

he’d already completed his 100

combat missions.

He volunteered to stay for

another hundred.

His request was approved.

When I went to Korat.

Karl was in the same squadron

that I was in the

421st Tactical Fighter Squadron

and so I got to fly with him for

about six months while we were

there, and of course he went on

and finished a 100, then went on

to try, try to do another 100.

I mean he was fearless, totally

fearless, and he was a

dedicated American.

I mean he really believed in

what he was doing.

He could fly the airplane

really well

and he was just a

fun, good guy to be with.

Karl Richter had survived the

thuds worst year on record

and he dared to look death

in the face to do it

all over again.

On his 198th mission

over North Vietnam

while bombing a bridge,

Lieutenant Richter's Thud was

was shot down.

Battled damaged by

anti-aircraft fire.

He ejected over a sharp

karst terrain.

His wingman observed

a good chute and ordered in the

combat search and rescue team.

Near death from multiple

injuries sustained due

to the studied karst formation,

they recovered and extracted

him from North Vietnam.

Karl Richter,

the young man who proudly

stood and lived the essence of

here I am,

send me.

Died on July 28th, 1967

aboard the rescue helicopter.

An American hero and

World War Two Ace

was about to change everything.

Colonel Robin Olds

had had enough

and as a gesture of defiance,

began to flaunt a non-regulation

mustache to the leaders in his

chain of command.

Like him,

other fighter pilots

began to sport

the bulletproof mustaches

as their secret middle finger

to the policymakers.

After all,

men were dying

and the targeting orders

were so insane,

they began to question why

they were even there.

Considered the best combat con

in the history of

modern air warfare,

Colonel Robin Olds'

Operation Bolo

turned the tide on

the MiG threat.

Disguised as bomb laden Thuds

using F-105 strike routes,

flight profiles and callsigns,

Colonel Olds lured MiG 21s

right into the fangs of his

F-4 Wolf Pack

He and his men were

ready to fight

and fight they did.

Close to half of Vietnam's

MiG 21s were demolished.

North Vietnam immediately put a

price on Robin Olds' head

and grounded their Air Force

for months to devise new tactics

The commander-in-chief

personally asked Robin Olds

what should be done

about Vietnam.

He didn't sugar coat it.

Good Lord...you got the best

armed services you've

ever fielded.

Why don't you use them?

one way to stop

the darn thing.

It's very simple

from my own humble

point of view,

win it.

That's easy.

What we're doing is

the hard way

and the worst way of all

is to get out

once you got your foot in it.

LBJ was startled.

The American fighting spirited

had bypassed Washington shackles

in dealing with the air menace,

and now it was onto

the SAM threat.

My name is Ben Fuller.

I retired from the Air Force

in 1977

as a full colonel.

I had been flying the F-105 for

quite a while.

Primary mission, of course in

Europe was a

tactical nuclear delivery of an

atomic weapon against

the Soviet Bloc Nations.

I spent a little over, I guess

two and a half years of that

tour when all of a sudden

the war in North Vietnam got

hotter and they started pulling

all of the F-105s out of Europe

and sending them over to a

to bases in Thailand.

I, somewhere around December

1966, I received orders

to go

to ah

Takhli Thailand

as a Wild Weasel pilot.

Nobody knew what a

Wild Weasel was.

We thought everybody

was the same.

We just were fighter pilots.

And so, we went up to

Wing Headquarters

to read the secret orders and

see what the definition of

Weasel was

and it says it that they were

aircraft that were equipped with

special electronic equipment

to seek out and destroy

surface to air missile sites

by trolling for them.

And I said, "what the hell is

trolling for a SAM?"

And they said, "That's where

you fly around and hope they'll

shoot at you

and that way you'll know

where they are.

I've got my PCS orders to

Nellis first for a

twelve sortie

training flight

and where we married up with our

electronic warfare officer

to fondly be called

a Bear

later on

A trained bear.

I'm Stan Goldstein. At the time

I became a Wild Weasel I was a

major and I got to fly in the

105 and become a Wild Weasel.

The best thing that ever

happened to me.

The key to flying Wild Weasel

missions is to have

good crew coordination.

And of course the question is

how do you figure out who you're

gonna crew up with?

Well, the marriage dance

is quite interesting.

They finally figured out to

leave it up to

the crews themselves.

So there were some

I think eight

eight pilots and eight EWOs,

backseaters, GIBs, Bears,

whatever you want to call us.

And we all meet up in Vegas

and of course there

several hours at the bar

where the big determination

is made.

That was quite an experience

because most of the Bears

had come from

SAC

Strategic Air Command

where they flew in the middle of

a bomber somewhere

and were lucky if they had

a small window to look out of

So when we got our bears in

there for the first mission

or two, it was mostly getting

them used to what it was like

flying upside down and doing

rolls and everything with a

total plexiglass

window to look out of

and...to...

to concentrate on

what they were supposed to be

concentrating on and that was

the black boxes that

were in the back seat.

As my first time wearing a

G-suit, I had flown in B-57s

before so I had some

experience. I also had jet time

in the front and back of B-66s

which I'm glad I avoided

by getting into the Thuds.

We go through Weasel school.

We learn how to

drop bombs.

We learn how to maneuver,

how to recognize the signals.

The Wild Weasel aircraft

were developed

because of a high threat from

surface to air missiles.

that were plaguing the 105s

and other aircraft over

North Vietnam.

I used to try to describe this

pretty much as

how this all worked

like the people who carry

fuzz busters in their

automobiles to detect where the

highway patrol

is up ahead

trying to determine your

air speed or

your speed of your car.

And it emits a signal

and then the fuzz buster

in the car

picked up the signal

and that way you knew

that you had a threat.

It was the same idea with the

Wild Weasels.

We picked up a various

number of threats which

a Bear can explain

to you much better,

but mainly the threat

we were looking for was the SA-2

Surface to Air Missile.

Got this patch here,

Wild Weasel patch.

It says, YGBSM.

Jack Donovan who is one

of the Weasels on

Wild Weasel 1 - the F100s.

And he and Gary Willard

as some of you may know,

great Thud pilot,

great Hun pilot.

Anyway, they go to a

secret place out in Long Beach

and they go into the

North American hanger

and the Secretary of

the Air Force is sitting

on the side smoking a pipe

with his arms crossed.

And they explain to

everybody what the mission of

the Wild Weasels is going to be.

And then, Donovan tries to

summarize this.

"Let me get this straight.

You’re gonna put me in the back

seat with some crazy ass fighter

pilot and you want me

to patrol and be a target for

SAMs? You gotta be shitting me."

So, YGBSM

has become the motto

of the Wild Weasels and one

we try to live up to.

And it's on all our gear.

I was leading a flight.

It was Carbine flight.

I was Carbine 1. Carbine 2,

another Weasel pilot,

Joe Ritter, and his back seater,

McGuken, John McGuken.

Number three was Leo Thorsness

and Harry Johnson.

Carbine 4,

was Lieutenant Bob Abbott.

We were approximately

30 miles so as

routine for the Weasel Flight

to be out front

of the strike force

and there were twelve other

F105's behind us.

Off to my right,

Leo Thorsness

in number three was just

almost a beam me off

to the right side.

I caught his

plane exploding.

And It was

almost totally engulfed in fire.

And my of course reaction is,

"Get out, get out!"

I'm screaming like

duh...you know.

I'm sure he knows that

he's got a problem.

And he did call,

"Mayday, mayday, mayday

This is Carbine 3"

And he immediately ejected.

We saw parachutes from

both people.

And Leo, bless his sole,

he was my mentor over there,

heard their beepers.

So right after

those transmissions,

I'm calling a channel change

and I can't raise number four.

And

we

assume and then,

number 2 comes back and

advises me that he thinks

that he saw number 4

hit also

just within seconds of Leo.

We're talking in the aircraft

between us, what did this?

Nobody had said

anything about MiGs.

We knew it could have been

anti-aircraft fire, but we

weren't over places that

would have a lot of

anti-aircraft,

so we didn't know

what had hit them at this time

So all of the sudden in

the middle of this,

Tomahawk,

who is flying top cover

up there and relaying messages,

he gets hit.

Tomahawk 4 is shotdown by

another MiG.

And number 3 is hit by either

his explosion or a

separate missile they

don’t know which.

But, Tomahawk 3, Al Linski, he

managed to keep his

plane together

and make it back

to emergency landing at

Udorn Air Force Base

in Thailand.

Captain Joe Abbott was the

was the Tomahawk 4

who was also shot down.

And nothing is going

the way we want it to go

at this point in time.

We've got you know

another guy on the ground.

And a lot of MiGs in the area

and things are beginning to

look pretty grim.

But then the next

thing we know is

the lead chopper is aborting.

He's had hydraulic problems.

So chopper number 2 aborts

with him as is their procedure

according to their protocols.

So now, Crown says we’re just

gonna have to call everything

off and come back tomorrow,

and so

we all gathered up

and went home.

And the last thing I remember

from the ground was Leo

on the radio

survival radios

saying get me out of here.

And so all the way home

I had a lot of tears.

And I that was a four hour

and fifteen minute mission

that accomplished nothing.

And that was the worst

mission of my one hundred.

And I'm glad I didn't have to

repeat it again.

Thud combat operations

out of Thailand

developed an unspoken bond

among the officers who flew them

and the non-commissioned

officers and enlistees who

maintained them.

Their one goal?

Put bombs on target.

For each Thud pilot assigned to

the squadron had an F-105 with

his name on it during his tour.

It was in name only.

He would fly whatever Thud that

he was scheduled for

on that day.

For Thud Crew Chiefs

and their team

on the other hand,

it was a true relationship

between man and machine.

Their assigned aircraft became

their child that they would care

for and nurture.

In actuality,

Crew Chiefs only let the pilots

borrow "his" personal aircraft.

My name is Jeff Puras.

I arrived in Korat Thailand

in May 1967 and I was assigned

to a Wild Weasel aircraft.

Life on the flight line was day

after day of almost exactly the

same routine.

launch, recovery,

count them when they

were coming back.

There's a gap.

The Weasels

The Weasels seem to be

stragglers because they were

first in, last out.

They would be

It's always nervous time.

You see the strike force

you know come back

there's one

there's one

watch them land.

And then you wouldn’t see yours

then oh, there it is.

You'd be relieved.

And ugh,

I went up the front ladder

and who's ever helping me

do the back seater.

And...

his hands were shaking so bad

he couldn't hook

his harness up.

And...ugh...he...and

I just watched and said

relax sir, I'll get it for ya.

So I helped him with his

with his straps and stuff.

And I wondered what in the heck

were they tasked with that day?

My name is Larry Henlsey.

I was a Crew Chief on the F-105

at Takhli, Thailand

in the year 1967.

It was always

a sad deal to see

three airplanes in the sky

coming back as opposed to the

four that took off and

one of those days,

my plane that I had launched

didn't return.

and they didn't tell us

much about what happened

other than they just came and

got the forms binder

for the airplane

that the plane was lost

and the pilot didn't survive.

He was lost as well.

And I think they recovered his

remains sometime in the '80s

and finally got to

return them back to his family.

I couldn't have made any

difference other than making

sure the best airplane in the

world leaves.

Make sure it's perfect.

But, it was,

I was sick for three,

I was just sick

sick when it happened.

It's just more than,

it's almost more than

you can bear.

Some of the Crew Chiefs

had horrible problems

after a shoot down of their

plane and it happened a lot.

Something that

you...just...it’s

a hard thing to deal with

when you lose the

plane, but you lose the man that

you had just strapped

in that airplane.

And...

that was a proud time when

you taxied that airplane out and

gave that pilot a salute

And you were one of the last

ones that talked to him on the

ground because you were hooked

up with a headset.

And you tell him you'll

see him when he gets back and

he didn't return.

For Thud Crew Chief, he was the

one responsible for the air

worthiness

servicing, launch and recovery

of this incredible

piece of metal.

F-105 availability

in Southeast Asia was the

highest for the entire

Thud fleet,

a testament to the dedication

and hard work of the maintenance

core of Crew Chiefs,

Line Chiefs

and behind the flight line

maintenance shops.

A multitude of maintenance

specialists in

engines,

hydraulics,

avionics

and electronics supported the

Crew Chief

along with the armors and

munitions personnel

who assembled,

delivered and loaded

the weapons.

It was an all out

team effort to get that Thud to

complete it's assigned mission.

Outside of maintenance,

there were other organizations

supplies,

transportation,

security.

Took a lot get the pointy end

of the spear to the target.

As losses mounted,

a painful personal bond

between maintainers

and pilots developed.

Crew Chiefs had to live with the

fact that their face

only inches away from the

pilot's during the

strap-in process

had the potential to be the last

close human experience

for that pilot.

Their emphatic thumbs up

signaled to the Thud pilots

that everything was okay

and his Thud was ready to fight.

Gathering at the edge of

the ramp facing the runway,

the maintainers would watch

their aircraft take off

nudging the man next to him

when he'd spot it

take to the air

They would prepare their spots

for recovery

optimistically expecting their

aircraft to return.

Sadly,

some would not.

I'm Vic Vizcarra

and I flew the Thud

and did three combat tours

to Southeast Asia.

On six November, 1966,

I was flying in a two ship

Iron Hand mission.

We were searching for

three new suspected

SAM sites

above the DMZ.

While searching for

these targets,

I started having engine problems

which I thought I could save the

aircraft and nurse it back home.

The further we got

into the flight,

the more serious my situation

got where I was no longer able

to maintain air speed

or altitude.

And I informed

Clipper 1

that I was having to eject.

Okay...Clipper 2's got his

lanyard hooked up, I must get

out of this thing

I've got no airspeed

left at all hardly

Roger Clipper 2....

The seat did a huge somersault

where I could see my feet above

the blue sky

and came back around.

The parachute ride down

was very

serene,

peaceful,

very quiet.

Looked down and saw I was going

to land in very dense jungle

so I prepared for that.

Once on the ground,

I established contact with

Clipper lead

who informed me that

search and rescue assets

were on their way.

And he instructed me to

go off the air

and save the battery.

May Day, May Day,

May Day

Crown, do you read?

I’ll show Vic this tape here

when we get back

My name is Bob Cooper.

Late in the afternoon,

we were launched

on my birthday

We heard from Red Crown

that a 105 pilot had

punched out

due to compressor failure

I think.

That's all we knew.

My boss on Halsey,

Captain Le Bourgeois said,

"hold in that position",

because I was just off coast.

Red Crown then said that no,

the Air Force couldn't get

there before sundown.

Send that poor little H-2

in after him,

so, in we went.

I went to look for a place

to hide meanwhile

and found a cave in which

I entered.

It was the first time

I thought of the family.

My boys were only

six and five at the time.

I was sure that if I did not get

rescued they'd at least still

be able to remember me,

but I was concerned.

I had a daughter that was

less than a year old and she

would never know me if I didn't

get rescued,

so I said a little prayer.

And...

As I finished my prayer,

I heard

the aircraft returning

into the area.

I went back out

from the cave.

and made contact.

And...

it was the

The Sandy rescue

that was trying to make contact

with me.

I have to give it to those guys.

They have big brass ones.

While I was in the cave,

the weather conditions had

changed abruptly from when

I bailed out

and now

we had a huge overcast

with one sucker hole.

And hear, Sandy Lead,

tell his wingman he says,

"I think I can spiral down

through that hole and get

beneath the stuff."

And here I'm looking at

these karst mountains,

the tops of them disappearing

into the clouds

That took guts for him

to do that.

He flew directly over me

and I got all excited

and I informed him he

had just flown over me.

He did not acknowledge

or rock his wings or anything.

Later on, in reading the

transcripts from the command

post of this rescue,

I found out that he actually

did hear me,

but he was smart and

he's playing the game.

Making sure,

he didn't want to give my

location away in case

there were bad guys

around the area.

You could see in the distance

where the coastal plain started

to rise.

At about

2,000 feet, the cloud deck

started and it was solid.

So we climbed up to about

8,000...I think

We usually went in pretty

high anyway,

keeps you out of

the ground fire

...small arms fire,

because they love

to shoot at people.

Anyway, we got above it.

We joined up with

those two Sandys.

One of them had managed to get

below the clouds

which was amazing.

And he was,

must have been having

some

difficulty maneuvering

in those valleys

because all the peaks were

shrouded in clouds.

He said, "there's a hole,

I'm coming up".

Sure enough, there was

a hole there.

I could see all the way to

the jungle canopy.

Couldn't see the ground.

He came up,

I went down.

Got under the clouds in a

valley running North and South

Nothing was in it.

I...

was so disappointed

I couldn't stand it by then.

We searched up and down there.

The Sandys were talking

to Vic.

I couldn't hear Vic.

I could hear them.

One of them said,

"I think I'm on top

of you right now."

I switched my radio to ADF

and got a lock on him.

I went to the East

over a low ridge

As soon as I crossed that

I saw a hazy red smoke.

Aha...the right valley

At last.

We went up and down that

side of the valley

for quite awhile,

but then we came across

the wreckage.

And shortly after that,

we saw the chute.

Then, I got talking to Vic.

He said he's about,

I don't know, 100, 200 yards

one way or the other

of the chute.

North I think.

So we slowed down and

he talked us right over

the top.

Never did see him, ever.

These guys were good.

I couldn't believe it.

When they dropped

the tree penetrator through

the trees,

I only had to take one step

to reach it.

I folded down the blades,

jumped on it.

Now the only thing left to do

was to secure the

safety line around.

I couldn't hook it up.

Anyway, we sent the

penetrator down

and waited and waited

and waited.

And I was running out of fuel

and I said come on.

Finally, I switched the

loud hailer

and I think he heard me.

Said, you've got to

get on that seat

because I'm running

out of gas.

Next thing I hear through

this megaphone is,

"Hurry up, let us know when we

can pull you up.

We're low on fuel."

That made me even more nervous

and I tried harder

without any success.

So finally out of desperation,

I didn't want them

leaving without me,

so I finally out of desperation

on the radio said,

I was gonna say,

okay, I'm ready.

As soon as they heard

okay,

they jerked me up

which made me lose the

grip on my radio. I lost it.

Dropped it in there.

But the good news is now I at

least had two hands to hold on

to the cable.

Shortly after that, the crewman

that was running the hoist,

Meyer I think his name was

said, I think I got him.

And sure enough, he started

reeling the cable in.

We were really in a high hover,

about 180 feet. That's big time.

And...

shortly after that,

he said, "We do, we do

we have him, we have him"

And I looked down and there

hugging that post baby.

And I took off.

I started climb up.

We didn't get the guy until

we were in the middle

of the clouds.

I had to get out of there.

They pulled me up

through the trees.

They had to use my shoulder

as a battering ram to get

through this one branch.

But finally,

I felt somebody grab the

nap of my collar and pulled

me into this chopper

as it tilted down

and it sped away

I checked my tacan.

I knew Da Nang was

impossible.

I could not get near Da Nang.

Nakhon Phanom was also

too far away.

And that's where I'd

always intended to go if we

managed to get out,

but it was too far away.

One of the Sandys just gave me

a head bearing and distance to

Halsey and be darn it was about

50 miles away.

I'm Curtis Venable,

I was a Senior Rescue Crewman

on Helicopter Combat Support

Squadron One.

Captain Le Bourgeois called me

to the bridge and he told me

he wanted to know what the

fuel load was for my helicopter.

And I told him.

And then I found out

where the helicopter was at.

I decided at that point

that they weren't getting back

So...

that's what I told him.

And he went full blast.

He went full bores online

and we run about

45 minutes down stream.

I later was told that

we were doing 42 knots.

Captain Le Bourgeois,

God bless him,

he turned that ship South

flank speed

all the way down that coast.

And he was right off the coast

about 20 miles

by the time we got there...but

but that's where I went.

I wasn't sure I was gonna

get there,

but I knew if I could

get to the water,

we'd had a good chance of

getting picked up.

I couldn't go down in

North Vietnam.

That never crossed my mind

Or Laos for that matter

that wasn't a whole lot better

That's why I like, go to

the water.

You know...Navy.

What else can you do?

Got to head for the water and

that's what we did.

In the chopper it was so noisy

we could not talk to each other.

But this young

looking gunner

kept on looking over at me

and kept on giving me

the old thumbs up sign.

I acknowledged back

so I was feeling really good

that everything's fine.

Pretty soon,

he hands me a

Mae West

to put on. I think I’m heading

West towards Nakhon Phanom

where the rescue

Air Force rescue units

came from.

So I need a life vest

just to cross the Mekong River?

But then, he opens up the

door and starts dumping

things out.

The machine gun,

all the ammo cans.

I'm thinking to myself

what the heck's going on?

And then I remember their

dramatic call,

hurry up let us know

when we can pull you up,

we're low on on fuel.

Started a slow,

a low powered descent

just to keep some

fuel in the tank.

And we managed to get

to the water.

A friend of mine was flying an

H-3 off the coast

Apparently someone had

stationed him there

and I don't know which

carrier he was from,

but...

I knew we were home free at that

point even if I had to

go in the water.

But the thing kept flying.

Not a hiccup.

I couldn't believe.

The H-2 has a two

hour endurance capacity.

I was two and half hours

at that point.

I said, keep going as

long as it will fly.

And sure enough

by golly, I got to Halsey,

put it down and

the picture was taken.

laughing

Surprise...surprise.

When the helicopter landed

aboard, I did the refueling

myself and we had about

five gallons of usable fuel

on board. We almost lost it.

And there's an iconic photograph

of me with big bug eyes.

And everybody that sees it says

man, you must have been scared.

I really wasn't.

I was shocked.

I was shocked to find out

I was on a ship.

Of course the joke in

the family is that this

was the most expensive Navy

rescue ever and that I had to

give them my first

and second born because

both sons went into Navy Air.

On October 31st,

1968,

one of the most controversial

military campaigns in

United States history

came to a halt.

There was no fan fare or

or ticker tape parades.

Thud pilots would go on

to fight an unwinnable war

run by politicians for

another five years.

Senior officials in the

Johnson Administration

facilitated more Thuds being

shot down than any enemy gunner,

MiG pilot or SAM site operator.

One of the greatest casualties

of the air war in Vietnam was

loss of trust of the

US government by the

very men defending it.

Thud pilots are a testament to

extraordinary heroism,

determination

and sacrifice of men willing to

serve their country at whatever

cost.

Too many of their names are

forever inscribed on a

polished black granite wall,

resting solemnly at the

nation’s capital.

The long list of the

58,286 names of America's

best etched in the order they

were taken from us

honors them and silently serves

as a deafening reminder.

50 years after Rolling Thunder,

these names set in stone

serve as a warning.

A warning to the political class

who order America's

sons and daughters

in to harms way.

Disfunctional strategies with no

intention of winning

will not stand.

Never again.