![]() ![]() To commemorate the event, the crew reunited on March 3, 2022, by revisiting the aircraft, which is now on display at the Hurlburt Field Memorial Air Park at Hurlburt Field, Florida. ![]() This year marks the 50th anniversary of the famed flight. However, the majority of the Air Commandos would take to the skies in the next hours and days following the incident. “I was absolutely shocked that the gear came down and held,” Hobgood said, adding that it was a surprisingly smooth and uneventful landing.įollowing their arrival at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand, injured crew members were transported for medical care. Inside the cockpit, Hobgood remembers preparing for a crash landing. Unsure of the aircraft’s ability to land, the aircrew would go on to secure themselves after treating Chandler’s wounds. The infrared sensor operator had injuries to both legs and feet and also had several broken bones. “I opened my eyes just a bit to try and see what was going on, and realized that I was looking at floor level, and I couldn’t quite figure out why,” Chandler said.Ĭrew members near the booth quickly worked to respond to Chandler, pulling him from the hole and using rags and rope they found nearby to apply tourniquets to his injuries. I had no idea what happened.”Īlong with the structural damage, the 57 mm also created a three-foot hole in the weapons control booth – and Chandler was falling through it. “I thought maybe the whole aircraft had blown up. “Out of nowhere, there was this blinding light,” said Chandler. Likewise, the blast left the crew members in the back of the aircraft disoriented. ![]() “I could barely see the copilot,” noted David Hobgood, aircraft commander of Spectre 17. In the moments following the explosion, the cockpit filled with smoke and heat. “I never saw anything like it,” said Lee DeRosa, an electronic warfare officer on board Spectre 17. Enemy anti-aircraft artillery had struck their gunship, causing severe damage to the structure of the aircraft. The crew saw two large flashes illuminate the ground below. “It went from boring to unimaginable in about a split second,” said Chandler. The crew, assigned to the 16th Special Operations Squadron, were operating a combat mission supporting Operation Commando Hunt, a campaign of the Vietnam War.Ĭompared to other missions they had flown, the night of March 4 started as a slow night, Chandler said. Air Force Col., served as an infrared sensor operator on board the AC-130A Spectre Gunship, now referred to as ‘Spectre 17’ for its call sign. “I’ve lived most days of my life since then just being happy that I’m alive,” Gary Chandler recalled.Ĭhandler, a retired U.S. Collectively, members of the “Spectre 17” aircrew would say March 4, 1972, was both the luckiest and unluckiest day of their lives. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |