ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 138182
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| Date: | Friday 22 December 1972 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  General Dynamics F-111A |
| Owner/operator: | 430th TFSqn /474th TFWg USAF |
| Registration: | 67-0068 |
| MSN: | A1-113 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 53 miles west of Hanoi, North Vietnam -
 Vietnam
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Takhli RTAFB, Thailand |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
The last missing F111A to be shot down over Vietnam was crewed by Capt. Robert D. Sponeybarger and 1st Lt. William W. Wilson. Sponeybarger and Wilson were flying a multi-plane strike against ten targets in the Hanoi area, including airfields, trans shipment points, RADCOM, and port facilities.
During the attack on the Hanoi port facility at 2138 hours, after pickling off the twelve 500-pound bombs and scoring direct hits on the port facility, call sign Jackel 33, piloted by Capt. Sponeybarger with his Weapons Systems Officer Capt. Bill Wilson, was hit by enemy fire. The crew had to shut down the right engine as they attempted to leave the area. They had been flying a typical F-111 tactical mission when they were hit by small-arms fire - flying at supersonic speed only a few hundred feet altitude.
At a point fifty-three miles west of Hanoi, they ejected. On the third day after the ejection, Capt. Sponeybarger was captured by North Vietnam Army troops searching for the crew members. The next day an intensive SAR effort attempted to recover Capt. Wilson. As the HH-53 (tail 69-5788, call sign Jolly Green 73, from the 40th ARRS, NKP, Thailand) approached his position, a .50 caliber raked the chopper, shot off the refueling probe, wounded the co-pilot, and caused numerous fuel leaks. Despite this, the helo crew continued to hover for a pickup. Unfortunately, Capt. Wilson lost his balance while reaching for the penetrator device and rolled down a hill. The HH-53 could stay no longer, since North Vietnamese soldiers were getting very close to the chopper.
Extensively damaged, the HH53 barely made it to a mountaintop in Laos where they were rescued under enemy fire by a backup Jolly Green. For two more days, Capt. Wilson successfully evaded the enemy search parties, but was finally captured after Christmas while trying to reach food
and water dropped by orbiting A-7s.
On March 29, 1973, Sponeybarger and Wilson were released by the North Vietnamese, along with 589 other American prisoners of war
Sources:
http://www.scopesys.com/cgi-bin/bio2.cgi?bio=W130
http://web.archive.org/web/20170921070650/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/Aircraft_by_Type/F_111/F-111.htm
http://www.f-111.net/t_no_A.htm
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 25-Aug-2011 11:05 | Uli Elch | Added |
| 28-Jan-2013 16:28 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 30-May-2021 10:37 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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