combat aircraft

questions as how we got that hit [while]

 ying at the directed altitude.

‘We were saved from these questions

when 7th Air Force asked us to attend the

debrie ng. So my pilot and I jumped into

another EF-10B and went to Saigon with

the  lm. A couple of days later, we used

our RF-8As [the reconnaissance version of

the Vought Crusader] to follow up and get

a nice targeting image. They came back

with excellent shots of the complex, plus

numerous lucrative targets around it.

‘The commanding general of MAG-12

launched a mini-strike on September 4

that knocked out the radar and wreaked

havoc on the guns. Two RF-8As took the

battle damage assessment photos the

next morning — it took over a month for

the Vietnamese to get the radar back on

the air’. That radar was directly in line with

the route that Marine Corps aircraft had to

 y to reach targets in southern Vietnam.

Dangerous missions

The EF-10Bs continued to  y dangerous

missions around Hanoi and Haiphong

harbor until EF-10B BuNo 124645 made

the last combat sortie on October 2, 1969.

Some of those operations meant  ying

Arriving on

station we

found our adversary

was on the air and the

challenge was on

1st Lt H. Wayne ‘Flash’ Whitten

photo mission as, unbeknownst to 7th
Air Force, the old ‘Whale’ [the EF-10B]
did indeed have a great reconnaissance
camera. Lt Gail Sublett and I got the
nod for this mission and we launched at
dawn’s early light in [BuNo] 125869.
‘Our instructions were to make only
one pass at about 8,000-10,000ft over
the area and we did that with an old K-17
camera chugging along. Afterwards,
my pilot and I agreed that with it being
a clear day we stood a good chance of
picking up the radar site if we made a
low-level visual run. The next thing I
remember was looking at a group of
triple-A guns. On our second pass, we
took a hit that sounded like an artillery
shell exploding. As my pilot pulled up
and away we decided that discretion was
the best part of valor and we decided to
return to base with our prized  lm.
‘When we returned to base, everyone
was gathering on the  ight line to view
the  st-sized hole that shell had left. The
powers-that-be asked some pointed

Above: A VMCJ-1

EF-10B prepares

for take-off from

Da Nang. The RM

tail code indicates

that this was one

of the original

batch of Marine

Corps jammers

sent to Vietnam.

Hoyt Wayne Young

via author

These two Skyknights have followed the coastline

northbound before turning inland. These examples were

the primary defensive forces protecting a raid against

hidden gun emplacements. John Dodson via author

http://www.combataircraft.net // October 2018 65