Richard Lee Whitteker

Captain Richard Lee Whitteker 7 February 1939 – ???? On 27 March 1968, Captain Richard L. Whitteker and then 2nd Lt. James L. Badley, both of the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron, departed Danang Air Base on a strike mission (callsign Gunfighter 8) into North Vietnam. On the mission, Gunfighter 08 crashed. The target area was…

Bobby Gene Vinson

Colonel Bobby Gene Vinson 17 January 1928 – ???? On April 24, 1968, then LtCol Bobby G. Vinson (pilot) and then 1Lt Woodrow W. Parker (WSO) launched from Da Nang Airbase, South Vietnam, lead in a flight of two F-4D Phantoms on night strike mission against a storage area near Van Loc, some 10 miles…

Richard Haven Van Dyke

Captain Richard Haven Van Dyke 24 January 1944 – ???? Richard Haven (Rich) Van Dyke entered Officer Training School (OTS), Medina Annex, Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas, on 22 May 1966 and was a Distinguished Graduate on 16 May 1966 with Class 66G. He then attended Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) at Williams AFB, Arizona, with Class…

Alan Robert Trent

Captain Alan Robert Trent 22 May 1940 – ???? On May 13, 1970, Captain Alan R. Trent and then 1st Lt Eric Huberthwere the crew in an F-4D (tail number 65-0607), one of a flight of two F-4s which took off from Phu Cat Air Base against a target approximately 105 miles northwest inside Cambodia.…

Smith J. Swords III

Colonel Smith J. Swords III 17 July 1929 – 17 August 1979 On 30 December 1967, then Major Smith Swords III, pilot; and 1st Lt. Murray L. Wortham, co-pilot; comprised the crew of an F4C, call sign “Flamingo 02,” that departed DaNang Airbase as the #2 aircraft in a flight of two. They were conducting…

Albert Eduardo Rodriguez

1st Lt Albert Eduardo Rodriguez 18 July 1942 – ???? Then Maj. Ernest A. Olds and 1Lt. Albert E. Rodriguez comprised the crew of an F4D Phantom fighter/bomber sent on a mission over North Vietnam on March 11, 1968. Their mission area was near a railroad which runs parallel to the Nguon Nay River in…

Woodrow Wilson Parker

Major Woodrow Wilson Parker 18 April 1943 – ???? On April 24, 1968, then-LTC Bobby G. Vinson (pilot) and 1LT Woodrow W. Parker (WSO) launched from Da Nang Airbase, South Vietnam, lead in a flight of two F-4D Phantoms on night strike mission against a storage area near Van Loc, some 10 miles northwest of…

Ernest Arthur Olds

Colonel Ernest Arthur Olds 14 July 1934 – ???? Then Maj. Ernest A. Olds and 1Lt. Albert E. Rodriguez comprised the crew of an F4D Phantom fighter/bomber sent on a mission over North Vietnam on March 11, 1968. Their mission area was near a railroad which runs parallel to the Nguon Nay River in Quang…

Eugene Thomas Meadows

Captain Eugene Thomas Meadows 4 March 1940 – 13 October 1966 A flight of two F-4s from the 480th TFS were conducting an armed reconnaissance mission in Quang Binh Province, North Vietnam, when they came across truck traffic on Route 103 a few miles 10 miles north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The two aircraft…