This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Sgt Duane Kimbrow (Skip)
to remember
Welch, Robert John (Bob), Col.
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Then Captain Robert Welch served as a pilot at Udorn RTAFB, Thailand. Captain Welch and his navigator, 1st Lt. Michael Kerr, was on a photo reconnaissance mission 35 miles west of Hanoi when their RF-4C was shot down. Lt. Kerr survived and was a POW in Hanoi for over six years. Captain Welch was listed as MIA and changed to MIA/KIA in 1979.
This Veteran has an (IMO) In Memory Of Headstone in Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial, Hawaii.
Aircraft/Missile Information
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS RF-4C PHANTOM II McDonnell Douglas RF-4C
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In the early 1960s, the USAF recognized the need for more tactical reconnaissance aircraft to reinforce the RF-101s then in service. The USAF chose a modification of the F-4C fighter. The RF-4C development program began in 1962, and the first production aircraft made its initial flight on May 18, 1964. The Air Force officially accepted a total of 499 RF-4Cs.
The RF-4C can carry a variety of cameras in three different stations in its nose section. It could take photos at both high and low altitude, day or night. The RF-4C carried no offensive armament, although during the last few years of its service some were fitted with four AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles for defense.
The 16th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron became the first operational unit to fly the RF-4C. In October 1965 that unit deployed to Southeast Asia to provide photographic reconnaissance of the growing conflict in South Vietnam. In the following years, RF-4Cs flew reconnaissance missions around the world, including Desert Shield/Desert Storm in Iraq in 1990-1991. The Air Force retired all of its RF-4Cs by 1985.
The RF-4C on display was delivered to the USAF on Sept. 9, 1965. It served in Vietnam, Japan, Korea, Europe, Cuba and the Middle East. During Desert Shield/Desert Storm, this aircraft flew a total of 172 missions, more than any other F-4 aircraft. When flown to the museum in May 1994, it had more than 7,300 hours of flying time.
