Military/Aviation Historical Help Needed...

[Michaelhatesfans]

I took this photo a few years ago while backpacking. It was just outside of Hanoi, and I wondered if any of you guys knew how to read the numbers on the plane. I was always curious to find out what happened to it, and the crew. I'm hoping that there's enough info on the serial numbers to find out what happened to the plane, but I don't know enough about how to read the numbers.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/249232056/249235376dXAhud

[devilmaster]

here's a starter

http://www.topedge.com/alley/squadron/pac/vf114his.htm

Vf-114 is the squadron designation, and it attributes that plane to the aardvark group which flew off the USS Kitty Hawk....

Although its shot up, the tail does have the NH designation.... you can make it out in light blue.



Steve

[devilmaster]

I think I have it. It looks like the unit number is 3001. If it is, its this plane.

http://image28.webshots.com/29/3/53/76/249235376dXAhud_ph.jpg

http://usn-ac-japan.hp.infoseek.co.jp/sqdn/vf-114/f-4b(153001).jpg


Crashed. Both engines flamed out during attack on Than Hoa Bridge near Hanoi on May 14, 1967

Pilot LT. CDR. Charles E Southwick, RIO LT. David J Rollins were POW.

This F-4B crashed ingesting debris from fired rockets during attack anti-aircraft defenses around Than Hoa Bridge on May 14, 1967. both of crew ejected and captured. They were released on March 4, 1973.


The bios of both officers are here.

Pilot - Charles Southwick - http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/s/s108.htm
Rio - David Rollins - http://www.powmiaff.org/California/mia278.html

Steve

[Michaelhatesfans]

Thanks for your help. :thumbup:

[RichK]

Steve, it is amazing that you found that info! Very cool.

MHF: Is that a "plane junkyard" you photographed, or is that the crash site?

[devilmaster]

Steve, it is amazing that you found that info! Very cool.


devilmaster is the googlemaster ;) :D

[edit] Plus, I have no life.... which means plenty of free time to google stuff.

Steve

[Winston Wolfe]

I think I have it. It looks like the unit number is 3001. If it is, its this plane.

http://image28.webshots.com/29/3/53/76/249235376dXAhud_ph.jpg

http://usn-ac-japan.hp.infoseek.co.jp/sqdn/vf-114/f-4b(153001).jpg



The bios of both officers are here.

Pilot - Charles Southwick - http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/s/s108.htm
Rio - David Rollins - http://www.powmiaff.org/California/mia278.html

Steve


Hey Folks..... while you are at it.... click on the links for these two pilots that are listed above and read some of their Bio....
These guys were shot down in 1967, and were not released until 1973. :eek:
They both have comments in their by-lines that state that they are thankful to the American people and also to then President Richard M. Nixon.
I cant even begin to imagine what it must have been like to lose out on 6 years of your life as a POW in a hostile environment, such as it was in Vietnam back in the day !!!!
These guys are the ones who are out there on the front lines for us, and we should all be thankful ! :thumbup:

[devilmaster]

As I continue with my own curiosity, I have passed this thread off to the San Diego Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America.

My continued perusing has located the pilot retiring there and is a member of the above MOAA, and possibly the Rio as well.

In fact, I believe I have found a pic of the Rio, Cdr. David Rollins, first photo on this page.

http://www.sdheroes.org/04Photos.asp

Steve

[Joelski]

Steve: That's amazing that you found that info! Props for a small dose of patriotism from our Candian brother. :)

[RTKar]

Steve: That's amazing that you found that info! Props for a small dose of patriotism from our Candian brother. :)

You can always count on a Navy guy.

[G.]

You can always count on a Navy guy.What's the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story?







A fairy tale starts out, "Once upon a time".


A sea story starts out, "This ain't no s****".

;)

[Michaelhatesfans]

Hey, DM - sorry about the casual "thanks" above, I was running out the door when I saw your post. I really appreciate your help; I've been wondering about the crew for years, and I didn't have very much luck with my own searches because I thought that it was a "300" that I was looking for - I didn't realize that it was supposed to be a four digit number! :gomer: Again, thanks a lot - that was the missing piece of the puzzle from that trip. Mystery solved! :thumbup:

[Michaelhatesfans]

MHF: Is that a "plane junkyard" you photographed, or is that the crash site?
It's not the crash site, although I wasn't sure when I took the photo. It's just outside of a military installation of some sort, but it's so overgrown and neglected that it could easily pass for a crash site. I've since seen photos from the other side of the plane, and you can see some framework holding it in place, as well as what's left of the engines. There's a whole gallery there from that trip, if you're interested in leftover military stuff, there's a lot of photos there (I was going to give you a better link, but Webshots seems to be down for the moment - I'll post something when they're back up).

Edit: They're back..
http://community.webshots.com/album/249232056anGZEW

[devilmaster]

I received an email tonite from the RIO, Cdr. David Rollins:


Steve,

Your query was forwarded to my by Chuck Schantag.

Thank you for your interest in our plane. It indeed was NH201 Bureau number 153001.

We were shot down while on a flak suppression mission on the Ham Rong (Than Hoa) bridge.

Your e-mail to Chuck was sent to Ev Southwick also. I'm sure he will respond.

Don't hesitate to contact me for any information you don't have.

Thanks again for your interest.

David Rollins

Steve

[RTKar]

/\ Wow!...That's awesome...... I'm glad those guys made it out.

[Jervis Tetch 1]

This is an excellent post. BTW did Cmdr. Rollins see the picture of his old Phantom?

[Michaelhatesfans]

Thanks again, Steve - this has gone farther than I ever really imagined that it would! I was going to be happy with a sheet of data on Acrobat, but original photos of the plane and e-mails from the pilots... :thumbup: :thumbup: By the way, I just realized that those orginal links that I used are not working, this should work...

http://community.webshots.com/album/249971592HKktPU

(still haven't added the Cu Chi tunnels or the Mekong Delta yet...)

[devilmaster]

BTW did Cmdr. Rollins see the picture of his old Phantom?

I received an email from Cdr. Rollins tonite. He actually has a different photo of his plane in the scrapyard in Hanoi.

What he apparently didn't have, was a photo of his plane in flight.

So we scored on that one. :thumbup:

Steve

[Michaelhatesfans]

Awesome!

[Jervis Tetch 1]

Took the words right out of my hands, but I'll repeat and add some.

Awesome! That's really so cool! :thumbup:

Thanks for the update!

[devilmaster]

Update:

I received an email last night from another person who had talked with Cdr. Rollins and is wanting a copy of the photo of 201 in flight.

MHF - good call, sir. Without your photo, none of this would have happened. :thumbup:

[Michaelhatesfans]

MHF - good call, sir. Without your photo, none of this would have happened. :thumbup:
Hey, I'm as thrilled as anyone! I'm just sorry that I didn't post it sooner.
:thumbup:

[cart7]

Amazing story. Top notch work guys! :thumbup: :cool:

[devilmaster]

I know this is a year old now, but i was cleaning out the emails and found some of my correspondence about this... Noticed that the japanese site is gone unfortunately, but apparently there is a print to buy.

http://web.tiscali.it/aviationgraphic/BIG/F4B-VF-114.jpg

http://web.tiscali.it/aviationgraphic/BIG/VF-114.html

[devilmaster]

Old thread, I know (again)....

But something I just picked up on....

Gary Foster was the 'other' person I mentioned in post #21 of this thread....


Date: 1 April 2010
From: "Foster, Gary"
Subject: Release of Book: Phantom in the River: The Flight of Linfield Two Zero One
I am pleased to announce to the NAMPOW community the release yesterday
of my book dedicated to Ev Southwick and Jack Rollins, entitled Phantom
in the River: The Flight of Linfield Two Zero One. It's an account of Ev
and Jack's flak suppression mission in their F-4 Phantom off the USS
Kitty Hawk against the air defenses of the Thanh Hoa Bridge in mid-May
1967. It recounts their shoot down and capture and their return to
Vietnam thirty-seven years later, to their landing site where on the
exact date and almost to the exact hour decades before they were
captured. Published by Hellgate Press, Phantom in the River is available
in all major bookstores.

My special thanks to Ev and Jack for their encouragement and advice and
to so many others who helped me along the way.

Sincerely,

Gary W. Foster


Oh and btw... Look at the photo on the cover of the book (its at amazon).... I am quite sure the photo is the one of the plane in flight that we found during the course of the original thread.

Kudos everyone. :)

[Michaelhatesfans]

Wow, this thread is like bumping into an old friend unexpectedly.:)

Among other things, an awesome reminder of why we keep coming here long after the demise of everything that we came together for in the first place.:thumbup:

[devilmaster]

Pilot Charles Everett 'Ev' Southwick - RIP 12/09/2017
RIO David John Rollins - RIP 10/11/2015

Both buried at Miramar National Cemetery.

[was looking up old threads, saw this, and googled the crew again.]

[nrc]

Sorry to see that a lot of the links in this thread have gone the way of most Internet links. Fortunately Google's all seeing eye has indexed a fair amount of info on these two heroes.

It hadn't really occurred to me that we're already losing many of our Vietnam era pilots. John McCain's illness made his passing seem like an aberration. But thinking about it now, many Vietnam era pilots were experienced aviators by the time they served in Vietnam so most of them are probably approaching their 80s.

[TravelGal]

Started with WWII pilots and expanded to include all vets and supporters. They lose some almost every week. Pretty famous here locally. http://www.wingsoverwendys.com/

[nrc]

Unrelated but it seems to kind of fit here.

Jackson Proskow: Dallas airport passengers silently salute the return of a fallen hero

https://globalnews.ca/news/5742432/returning-soldier-dallas-airport-vietnam-veteran/

I'm not crying, you're crying.

[devilmaster]

They shall not grow old;
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them;
Nor the years condemn;
At the going down of the sun;
And in the morning;
We shall remember them.

[Elmo T]

Unrelated but it seems to kind of fit here.

Jackson Proskow: Dallas airport passengers silently salute the return of a fallen hero

https://globalnews.ca/news/5742432/returning-soldier-dallas-airport-vietnam-veteran/

I'm not crying, you're crying.

We THAT was a mistake to watch that in my office this AM. :(

That said, it gives me hope that somewhere deep inside there are things that can unite everyone even when a casual glance at the news (any news source) makes that seem like a lost cause.

[TravelGal]

Unrelated but it seems to kind of fit here.

Jackson Proskow: Dallas airport passengers silently salute the return of a fallen hero

https://globalnews.ca/news/5742432/returning-soldier-dallas-airport-vietnam-veteran/

I'm not crying, you're crying.

You got that right. I'm bawling my eyes out. :cry:

[Elmo T]

You got that right. I'm bawling my eyes out. :cry:

This is really good watch (sniff sniff) on the homecoming flight:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54W22gT7-R8