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MSgt Gerald Lamirand (Jerry)
to remember
Lane, Charles, Jr. (Ford 04), Capt.
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Contact Info
Home Town Yankton
Last Address Ubon RTAFB, Thailand
MIA Date Aug 23, 1967
Cause MIA-Finding of Death
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Land
Location Vietnam, North (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Memorial Black Hills National Cemetery (VA) - Sturgis, South Dakota
At 1335 hours on 23 August 1967, Major Charles R. Tyler, pilot; and Capt. Ronald N. Sittner, weapons systems officer; comprised the crew of an F4D (aircraft #66-0238), call sign "Ford 01," that departed Ubon Airfield as the lead aircraft in a flight of four. Captain Larry E. Carrigan, pilot; and Capt. Charles Lane, Jr.; weapons systems officer; comprised the crew of the #4 aircraft (aircraft #66-0247), call sign "Ford 04." Ford flight was conducting a strike mission against the Yen Vien railroad yard located in a densely populated and heavily defended area approximately 36 miles north of Hanoi. Weather conditions consisted of scattered with towering cumulus clouds over near by Thud Ridge. The cloud bases were at 15,000 feet and the pilots had clear visibility during this afternoon mission.
At 1515 hours, while ingressing the target, the flight was attacked from the rear by a flight of 2 MiG-21s armed with air-to-air missiles (AAMs). In the ensuing dogfight, Ford 04 was struck by an air-to-air missile (AAM) and Ford 01 was struck by another AAM immediately afterward. Other pilots in the flight saw three parachutes leave the two fireballs. Within minutes of the shootdown, other flight members heard three strong emergency beepers and 1 weak beeper. Voice contact was also briefly established only with Larry Carrigan, the pilot of Ford 04. When voice contact could not be established the other downed pilots, beeper confirmation was requested.
The order in which acknowledgement was requested and the response received is as follows: "Ford Lead frontseater - short beep, strong signal; Lead backseater - short beep, strong signal; Ford 04 frontseater - short beep, strong signal; Ford 04 backseater - short beep, weak signal. The weak signal was in response to asking Capt. Lane to signal.
Ford 02 and 03 heard the beepers before leaving the area to rendezvous with an airborne tanker to refuel. At 1700 hours, they returned, and upon approaching the area, beepers were again heard. One of the pilots was immediately able to reestablish voice contact with Larry Carrigan, and he was able to give his relative position in relation to the pilot he was talking to. Again a beeper confirmation was requested. This time the only one not to respond with a short beeper was backseater of Ford 04, Charles Lane.
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]
