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Wortham, Murray Lamar (Flamingo 02), Capt.
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On 30 December 1967, Major Smith Swords III, pilot; and then 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 a Steel Tiger strike mission against moving trucks at a road intersection located on the south side of a jungle covered valley on the north side of a mountain range. This area of eastern Laos was considered a major artery of the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail. When North Vietnam began to increase its military strength in South Vietnam, NVA and Viet Cong troops again intruded on neutral Laos for sanctuary, as the Viet Minh had done during the war with the French some years before. This border road was used by the Communists to transport weapons, supplies and troops from North Vietnam into South Vietnam, and was frequently no more than a path cut through the jungle covered mountains. US forces used all assets available to them to stop this flow of men and supplies from moving south into the war zone. The target and loss location was approximately 61 miles northwest of Khe Sanh, South Vietnam; 4 miles north of the demilitarized zone (DMZ), 26 miles southwest of the Lao/North Vietnamese border and 16 miles southwest of Ban Loboy, Khammouan Province, Laos.
Flamingo flight proceeded to the target area located in hilly jungle terrain. The weather was clear with 10 miles visibility. At 2000 hours there was no moon to provide illumination; however, the horizon was visible due to starlight. Flamingo 02 was cleared in for a rocket pass by the on site Forward Air Controller (FAC). Major Swords radioed that they were rolling in on an enemy target from the east. This was the first firing pass of the mission for either aircraft. At this time, the lead aircraft was north of the target at 12,000 feet when Flamingo 2 fired his rockets. The Lead aircrew watched as the rockets impacted the ground, then shortly thereafter, watched as Flamingo 02 impacted 1,000 to 1,500 feet beyond the rocket impact point. The resulting fireball then skipped about 2,000 feet before impacting again. The wreckage burned for approximately 15 minutes. Flamingo 01 did not see any defensive ground fire coming from the target area.
Lead circled the crash site for about 15 minutes, but heard no emergency beepers and made no voice contact with either crewman. Darkness prevented any visible acquisition of Flamingo 02 during his rocket pass. Likewise, no parachutes were sighted for the same reason. Due to fuel exhaustion, Lead was forced to break off their search effort. Flamingo 02's dive angle in relation to the rockets appeared shallow enough for the crew to safely eject. The visual search effort was suspended due to inclement weather while the electronic search continued until 0530 hours the next morning when it was terminated. Because the area was under total enemy control, it was believed Major Swords and 1st Lt. Wortham would have had no opportunity to escape capture if they were able to successfully eject. Smith Swords and Murray Wortham were immediately declared Missing in Action.
Smith Swords and Murray Wortham are among nearly 600 Americans who disappeared in Laos. Many of these men were known to be alive on the ground. The Laotians admitted holding "tens of tens" of American Prisoners of War, but these men were never negotiated for either by direct negotiation between our countries or through the Paris Peace Accords which ended the War in Vietnam since Laos was not a party to that agreement.
Aircraft/Missile Information
From Wikipedia: The F-4 Phantom was designed as a fleet defense fighter for the U.S. Navy, and first entered service in 1960. By 1963, it had been adopted by the U.S. Air Force for the fighter-bomber role. When production ended in 1981, 5,195 Phantom IIs had been built, making it the most numerous American supersonic military aircraft.[7] Until the advent of the F-15 Eagle, the F-4 also held a record for the longest continuous production with a run of 24 years. Innovations in the F-4 included an advanced pulse-doppler radar and extensive use of titanium in its airframe.[8] Despite the imposing dimensions and a maximum takeoff weight of over 60,000 pounds (27,000 kg),[9] the F-4 had a top speed of Mach 2.23 and an initial climb of over 41,000 ft per minute (210 m/s).[10] Shortly after its introduction, the Phantom set 15 world records,[11] including an absolute speed record of 1,606.342 mph (2,585.086 km/h), and an absolute altitude record of 98,557 ft (30,040 m).[12] Although set in 1959?1962, five of the speed records were not broken until 1975 when the F-15 Eagle came into service.[11] The F-4 could carry up to 18,650 pounds (8,480 kg) of weapons on nine external hardpoints, including air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, and unguided, guided, and nuclear bombs.[13] Since the F-8 Crusader was to be used for close combat, the F-4 was designed, like other interceptors of the day, without an internal cannon;[14] In a dogfight, the RIO or WSO (commonly called "backseater" or "pitter") assisted in spotting opposing fighters, visually as well as on radar. It became the primary fighter-bomber of both the Navy and Air Force by the end of the Vietnam War. Due to its distinctive appearance and widespread service with United States military and its allies, the F-4 is one of the best-known icons of the Cold War. It served in the Vietnam War and Arab?Israeli conflicts, with American F-4 crews achieving 277 aerial victories in South East Asia and completing countless ground attack sorties.[15] The F-4 Phantom has the distinction of being the last United States fighter to attain ace status in the 20th century. During the Vietnam War, the USAF had one pilot and two WSOs,[16] and the USN one pilot and one RIO,[17] become aces in air-to-air combat. It was also a capable tactical reconnaissance and Wild Weasel (suppression of enemy air defenses) platform, seeing action as late as 1991, during Operation Desert Storm.[4][5] The F-4 Phantom II was also the only aircraft used by both of the USA's flight demonstration teams.[18] The USAF Thunderbirds (F-4E) and the USN Blue Angels (F-4J) both switched to the Phantom for the 1969 season; the Thunderbirds flew it for five seasons,[19] the Blue Angels for six.[20] The baseline performance of a Mach 2-class fighter with long range and a bomber-sized payload would be the template for the next generation of large and light/middle-weight fighters optimized for daylight air combat. The Phantom would be replaced by the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon in the U.S. Air Force. In the U.S. Navy, it would be replaced by the F-14 Tomcat and the F/A-18 Hornet which revived the concept of a dual-role attack fighter.[21]