101. 2 "Phantoms" two "Phantoms" --
102.
6 Thundercheif planes and six "Thunderchief"
aircraft -
103.
Photo of all ten model planes they took off with these 10
airplanes --
104.
Air picture of air base took off from their bases in
Thailand --
105.
US airplane taking off from their bases in South
Vietnam --
106.
Air view of aircraft carrier or from aircraft carriers in
the Bay of Ton Kin.
107. Ringsdorf declares: X: Which mission was this for you?
Ringsdorf: I was on number ten over the
north.
108. Air photos of bomb release Music
109. Duart declares Duart: I flew 13 missions over the DRV.
110. Air photos of bomb explosion Music
111.
Hubbard declares Hubbard: I flew, I was shot down on my
26th mission.
112. Air photos of bomb explosion Music
113. Risner declares Risner: I've flown approximately 40.
114. Air photos of bomb explosion Music
115. Hughes declares Hughes: 44, counting the last one.
116. Air photos of jungle on fire Music
117. Abbott declares Abbott: 61.
118. Air photos of jungle on fire Music
119.
Shively declares Shively: Sir, I was on my 67th mission
when I was shot down.
120.
Air photos of bomb release Music
121. Thorsness declares Thorsness: I flew 93, 93, sir.
122. Air photos of bomb explosion Music
123.
Torkelson declares X: How many flights have you
flown against The Democratic
Republic of Vietnam?
Torkelson: I have approximately 60
missions.
X: How many? How many?
Torkelson: Ah, approximately 60 missions
in the South of Vietnam.
X: If I understand you correctly,
during your short tour here in
South East Asia you flew
a total of 120 missions.
Torkelson: Ah, well, I've, yes 120
missions. I've been
here since October.
124.
US plane in the sky
125. Bomb release
126. Explosion on the ground Music
127.
Alvarez Commentary: And this Lieutenant j. g.
-- Navy pilot Edward Alvarez
junior -- was the first
American pilot to drop his
bombs on the Territory of
the DRV.
X: That means you were in the
first attack?
Alvarez: I was the first, yes.
X: And your first flight was at
the same time your last?
Alvarez: Yes, sir, yes.
X: Lieutenant Alvarez, did it
occur to
128. Alvarez after having been you that you would not return shot down. Pan shot to feet from your first mission? with pilot's helmet.
129.
Alvarez declares Alvarez: No, I did not give it any
thought.
X: I see. Did you think then that
the Vietnamese were just
waiting for you to come so that
they could give you free Escort
for your bombing raid? Or do
you consider it undue that in
your job as world- gendarme
people would actually defend
themselves against you?
Alvarez: I did not think of that.
130. Alvarez after having been X: Then you were surprised to be shot down. Pan shot from shot down on 5 August 1964? helmet to feet
131. Alvarez declares Alvarez: Yes, sir, a surprise.
132. Launching of a missile - Original sound -
133.
Hubbard declares X: Lieutenant Hubbard, where were
you shot down?
Hubbard: About 60 miles straight north
of Hanoi. A missile. A
surface-to-air missile, I
believe. I never did see it.
X: So your plane took a missile.
When you took off on your
flight did you think you would
be fought with missiles?
Hubbard: Well, every time I took off
there was a possibility of
being shot at with missiles.
One mission was just like all
the rest.
X: Humm. I see. Lieutenant
Hubbard,
134.
Launching of missile. a missile hit is not as simple
A plane is shot down. as it sounds.It is astonishing
that you survived at all.
135.
Hubbard declares Hubbard: Well, the aircraft, I think,
it was a near miss. And we
just took a lot of shrapnel in
the underside of the aircraft,
and the aircraft caught on
fire. And we stayed in the
aircraft for over a couple or
three minutes and the cockpit
filled up with smoke, and I
was not planning to, planning
to eject, unless I had to and
just after a few minutes the
floor of the aircraft blew up
into the airplane and I was,
flames came up arround my
seat. So I immediately
ejected. I was, had to reach
down into flames to get out
and I burnt myself on my
left arm, but not seriously.
136.
Burning plane crashes; X: How does it feel actually when
ejection seat is ejected suddenly you have to eject and
come down to the earth?
137.
Hubbard declares Hubbard: Well, it's a rather
frightening experience. I
would, ah, it will be very
difficult. I had known people
who ejected before
138.
Pilot ejecting from plane and they described it,
139.
Hubbard declares but it is not anything that
you can really describe and
you have to experience it.
It's, I don't know, stark
terror, I guess, you could
say; all of a sudden you find
yourself with fire all around
you and smoke and you can't
see anything and you know you
have got to get out.
140.
Hughes declares Hughes: We had a briefing at 12
o'clock, after which we ate,
and then prepared for our
takeoff. I'm sorry if I got
the times wrong, it's been
some period of time that has
lapsed. I believe it was 3.05
in the afternoon.
141.
Aircraft refuelling in mid-air We took off, proceeded to our
air-refuelling tanker, took on
the fuel, joined as a strike
force en route to our target
just north-east- of Ha Dong.
142.
Hughes declares On this heading and as we
approached from the east I
felt a sharp jolt under my
left wing and as I did I heard
my engine unwind specifically
and not clearly stop, at which
time I went through certain
procedures which are of little
interest here and finally
decided at a very low altitude
143.
Pilot parachuting that there was only one
decision left and that was to
bail out.
144.
Risner declares Risner: Yes, ah, it was on the 16th of
September 1965 and I took off
from Korat, about 8:45 in the
morning and proceeded to a
point about five miles north
of the city of Binh Hoa. I was
looking for trucks on the
highway, and within a few
seconds of the time after I
arrived at my point, my first
point, I was hit. I was flying
at very low altitude, and very
fast when I was hit by Intense
groundfire.
145.
20 millimeter flak firing It looked like maybe 20
millimeter or something of
the sort.
146.
Shively declares Shively: There were many guns firing
that day. They had, ah,
147.
37, 57, 85 millimeter I saw all kinds, I saw the 37
flak firing mm, 57 mm, 85 mm. I saw. I saw
several SAMs fired.
148.
Shively declares Shively: My aircraft was hit over the
city by an 85mm gun.
149.
85 millimeter gun X: How do you know
150.
Shively that it was 85 millimeter flak
that
151.
85 millimeter gun barrel hit you? How do you know this?
152.
Shively declares Shively: I don't know exactly that it
was an 85 milli meter, but the
explosion and the force that I
felt in the airplane made me
quite sure that it was. I had
quite a violent shock in the
airplane. I am sure it was a
heavy calibre gun
153.
Film-scene: direction finder
X: How high were you flying when
the flak hit you?
154.
Shively declares Shively: When it knocked me down I was
approximately 5,000 feet, I
think, and going very fast.
155.
Duart declares Duart: I am not positive of the type
weapon, but I had indications
in my aircraft
156.
Launching of a missile that a surface-to-air missile
had been launched at me
157.
Duart declares Duart: and I was trying to sight the
missile to evade it when the
aircraft was struck by
something that I feel was much
larger than regular anti-
aircraft, so I feel sure that
it was a surface- to-air
missile. The aircraft was
literally torn to pieces by
this.
X: You say torn to pieces? Does
this happen at the moment of
detonation? Or were you
able to continue flying?
Duart: The disintegration of the
aircraft was immediate.
158. Aircraft crashes, burning Music
159.
Alvarez declares Alvarez: All I know is, ah, my aircraft
exploded.
160.
Airplane explodes and Music
crashes, burning
161.
Thorsness declares Thorsness: O.K., sir. We took off, as I
remember, about 1:30 in the
afternoon and we proceeded
north. Everything was standard
until we were, I was in the
vicinity of Dien Binh, that's
a small town to the west of
Hanoi, some, I would estimate,
some 40 to 50 miles,
162.
Thorsness declares and we were headed generally
west, correction generally
east, at a very, pretty
high air speed, and I saw no
flak or no SAMs, but all of a
sudden the airplane was hit
very hard. There was no doubt
that the airplane had taken a
hit. And from the impact that
the airplane sustained I felt
a certain that it must have
been some form of missile and
as I don't think we were in an
area where a SAM, we were in
an area of SAM-range, and
there was no flak in the area,
because it was too hard a hit
for flak, I concluded that it
it must have been an
air-to-air missile off a MiG
21 and the airplane like I say
was hit extremely hard and
there was no doubt that the
airplane was not going to fly
anymore. So within just a few
seconds, ah, I ejected.
X: Yes, I can tell you that it
was a Vietnamese pilot trained
in the Soviet Union and flying
a MiG 21 who brought to an end
your career as a pilot. But
couldn't you defend yourself
with your own rockets?
Thorsness: We were flying a proper
formation, and all. It was
just that the MiGs, ah, got
into our six o'clock position
where we could not see them.
164.
Diagram I assume the six o'clock
six o'clock position position where we could
not see them.
165.
Thorsness declares Thorsness: I think they were low
166. Diagram six o'clock position and at six o'clock to us,
166a.
Thorsness declares Thorsness: and it is difficult in any
airplane to see behind you and
below you, and we were turning
some, but we did not see the
MiGs, in this case. It wasn't
a matter of someone failing to
protect someone else, it was
just one of those times when
you're shot down. The
fate.....
X: Fate, you say? In this case
fate was the flying ability of
a Vietnamese pilot.
167.
Aircraft crashes How did you feel as your proud
Thunderchief fell from the
sky?
168.
Thorsness declares Thorsness: My thoughts were, I wish I
hadn't gone on that mission.
Ah, my thoughts were, ah, that
I had to get out of the
aircraft and ah, that, ah, the
aircraft controls failed upon
impact of the missile, so
there wasn't really time to
set there and to think over,
over several events in your
life or several things other
than eject, survivability, it
was obvious I could not
survive in the aircraft, so
the only choice I had was to
immediately eject, so I
reached down and pulled the
ejection handles and was
ejected into the air stream.
169.
MiG take-off Commentary: A MiG 21 of the Vietnamese air
defence takes off.
170.
MiG maintenance crew Another is being prepared for
its next flight.
171.
Missile is mounted This is the air-to-air-missile
with an infrared target
seeking device
172.
MiG cover is lifted which has already mastered
many air pirates.
173.
Abbott declares Abbott: MiG 21, and they used a
surf....., ah, air-to-air
missile.
X: A MiG 21 versus Thunderchief!
Lieutenant Abbott, let us hear
now a true-to-life
description of a dog-fight. As
a Thunderchief pilot you
certainly know how it's done.
Abbott: Well, really, it wasn't too
much of a fight. We were
coming, we were coming in on
the target to tackle a missile
site and MiGs snuck up behind
us and shot me out of the air
and I never knew they were
there
174.
Airplane takes hit
in the air until they hit me with the
missile.
175.
Abbott declares And they shot two other guys
down the same day during the
same run. We were not quite
looking for them and they just
came behind us. We never saw
them until they hit us. And I
never saw them.
X: Tell us how it was in your
plane when you realised you'd
been hit.
Abbott: Well, it was not too much of a
situation. I knew I was hit
right off the bat. The plane
tilted up in the air and
turned upside down like this,
and a loud explosion in the
rear end and fire broke out
all over the cockpit, and the
panelling burst in fire, and I
could not see out. I was
enflamed in fire, and the
plane was spinning apparently
because I had a lot of G's. It
was all I could do to reach
for the handles of the
ejection seat and to bail out.
176.
Torkelson declares Torkelson: Ah, I think, I was shot down
by a MiG aircraft. I wasn't
sure, I didn't see what, but
I was, ah....
X: Since you are not sure, then
let me fill in the gap. You
were shot down by a MiG 17.
177.
Two MiG 17s during take-off which is very capable Soviet
jet fighter.
178.
Torkelson It was MiG 17 piloted by a
Vietnamese.
179.
Vietnamese officer climbing
Commentary: This is the Vietnamese First
Lieutenant who out of aircraft
with his MiG 17 knocked First
Lieutenant Torkelson and his
"Phantom" out of the
Vietnamese sky.
180.
Target photo Author's
commentary: This is the target photo,
given to us a a present, and
which shows the "Phantom"
being shot down.
181.
Ringsdorf declares Ringsdorf: I got hit about the time when
my bombs came off and I
immediately realised that I
was on fire and the plane
started a violent roll to the
left and I rolled backward to
the back seat and ejected. I
tried to hold it, but I could
not hold it and ejected and
went down about, 4,000 feet.
182.
Two pilots parachutting Commentary: First Lieutenant Ringsdorf and
his Co-Pilot were able to
safely eject from their
"Phantom" from the height of
about 1,200 meters.
183.
Aircraft hedge-hopping Other air pirates however
caught fire at such low
altitude that they just barely
survived.
184.
Abbott declares Abbott: My parachute opened about a
second before I hit the
ground.
185.
Risner declares Risner: However I had gained enough
altitude that I was able to
eject from my airplane.
186.
Burning wreck of an Commentary: This one flew too low. His
airplane. Dead pilot on a parachute did not open.
stretcher
187.
Photo of a dead pilot And his parachute could no
longer help him.
188.
Thorsness declares Thorsness: I floated downwards and after
my parachute opened a terrific
shock, but I looked up and the
parachute was intact, there
were no panels was missing
from it, which please me. When
I hit, hit the gound I hurt my
knee and ah, twisted my
knee....it pops out of joint
once in a while, but it's in
pretty good shape. So I felt
from the time I got on the
ground, I didn't think it
would be long till such time
that I was captured. X: What
kind of people were they who
first saw you here on the
ground? Were they young, were
they old?
189.
Thorsness wipes Thorsness: May I?
perspiration with towel
X: Yes, please.
190.
Thorsness declares Thorsness: Ah yes, sir. They, they were
not army people, I assumed
they were not because
they were not in any form of
uniform, I think they were
peasants who worked in the
small ricefields that was very
close to us that lived there
in the hills, and their ages
were, was difficult for me to
tell age of Vietnamese people.
But I think their ages, they
were quite young, they were
not, I know they were not more
than 20, maybe they may have
been as young as 15 or 16.
They were not friendly, they
did not run up and shake my
hand, but also they treated me
quite well when they captured
me.
X: Were these people - these
teenagers -- were they armed?
Thorsness: Some had rifles and some had
crossbows, ah, and some or
all, I don't remember, had,
had machetes, I guess a
standard equipment in the
jungle, that cut bamboo or
make trails and they a re very
apt at using these, as we went
through the jungle. They
amazed me how well they could
use their machetes.
191.
Duart declares Duart: When I landed my parachute and
I, I turned around and there
was one Vietnamese civilian 15
feet from me and I would say
50 to 70 within a hundred
yards. I landed in ricefields
that were very heavily
populated at the time.
192.
Militiamen in trenches
Ringsdorf: I landed right in the middle
of a maze of trenches.
193.
Ringsdorf declares Ringsdorf: Then I had time to get rid of
my parachute, and the first
thing I saw was a gun pointed
at me, and so on, so I
immediately raised my hands.
X: Who was it then who aimed the
pistol at you
and captured you?
Ringsdorf: It was a woman. But there
were, I think, more, about two
women and six or seven men in
these trenches. The first one
I saw was a woman. I looked
and saw about eight or nine
rifles. I got the message, and
I raised my hands, and I was
hit a couple of times with a
rifle butt, but I could
understand that they were
pretty angry.
X: So, you could understand that.
But the situation was hardly
conductive for other
thoughts on your part, or?
Ringsdorf: No, I was, put it this way, I
was rather numb at the time.
194.
Shively declares Shively: I landed in a rice field.
X: Nearly everyone lands in a
ricefield. We have heard this
from many who sat on this
chair.
Shively: Yes, yes, sir.
X: Tell us how you felt when you
realised you wouldn't be able
to fly on and had to bail out
over the Democratic Republic
of Vietnam. How did you feel
then as you had to reach down
and fire your ejection seat
and come to down to earth by
parachute?
Shively: Humm. It was a very, what we
call a sinking feeling. I felt
very bad at that time. I could
still hear the other airplanes
going home. I knew they would
be landing, having a beer,
discussing the mission...and
here I was, not knowing how
long I would be here and what
would happen to me. I felt
pretty bad at that time.
195.
Hughes declares X: Colonel Hughes, how much time
elapsed between your leaving
the plane and your
touch-down on Vietnamese soil?
Hughes: I estimate possibly two
minutes.
X: And during these two minutes
did you have enough time or
concentration to think about
what awaited you on the
ground?
Hughes: Humm. Yes, you, you
immediately think of
procedures first, this is a
momentary passing of time --
procedures for the equipment
disposal and what have you,
but primarily what you are
interested in is, you are
thinking of your future and I
saw in this light I was about
to embark upon a totally new
life. This life could very
well be death, but at any rate
it was coming up and it was
coming up rapidly. I could
hear the villagers proceeding
to a point beneath me, ah, and
my sole thought was I wondered
what kind of people are in
this part of the world.
196.
Two pilots floating Commentary: It was not before hanging in
down on parachutes the air like this for two
minutes and approaching
foreign soil that this
American Lieutenant Colonel
began to have thoughts about
the kind of people that might
be awaiting his touch-down.
Nor did colonel Risner, the
highest ranking prisoner, have
any idea.
197.
Risner declares Risner: No, I'm sorry to say I did
not. The knowledge of North
Vietnamese people and
their capabilities as
fighters, I don't think,
was well known, certainly was
not known by me nor by the
people that surrounded me. I
knew almost nothing at all
about the North
Vietnamese people nor even
what to expect.
198.
Vietnamese removing dud Author's These are the people, the
commentary: people of whom not one of the
pilots had an idea of as long
as he was dropping his bombs
199.
Salvage work after and firing his rockets. These
bombing raid are scenes of only ONE terror
raid! But the pilots with whom
we spoke came 415 times to
drop theirs bombs on these
people in this country so
distant from the USA.
200.
Faces of Vietnamese militiamen An air pirate who receives the
punishing blow falls into the
hands of these very people.
Most of them have lost members
of their family, many lost
their hard-earned possessions.
201.
Married couple at a grave Anyone having seen and knowing
all of this would have
understanding also if these
people paid the air pirates
202.
Mourning children and women back in the same manner.
203.
Ringsdorf declares Ringsdorf: I figured I would be shot upon
landing and, well, after they
captured me one guy levered
a shell into the chamber and
aimed at me and I figured that
was it, and the leader, I
guess it was the leader,
pushed the gun away and
that's when I realised that
they weren't going to shoot me
at the moment.
X: Then you were very happy about
it?
Ringsdorf: Well, once again, I was
rather numbed, I didn't, I
just thought when he pointed
at me that that was it and
when they pushed it away I
said they aren't going to
shoot me. I was in a state of
shock.
X: But you are no longer in a
state of shock, are you, or
are you shocking?
Ringsdorf: Haha!
204.
Hubbard declares X: What opinion did you have of
the Vietnamese who were
awaiting you on the ground?
What did you think of your
opponents?
Hubbard: I, I had no idea. I was never
given any instructions or
never had heard much about
the Vietnamese people and I
really did not know what to
expect. I did not know
whether I would be killed or
whether I would be tortured.
I had a good idea that I
would be captured, but
anything that happened after
that I had no idea what was
going to happen.
205.
Torkelson declares Torkelson: Well, I wasn't really sure
what they would do, ah, I
thought, that, ah, they might
treat me pretty rough and run
me round their, ah, through
the fields and things....
probably drag me with ropes
and things like this. But,
they did not.
206.
Shively declares Shively: I had heard possibly that I
could expect to be treated
very badly. Perhaps they
would beat me or maybe even
kill me on the spot. So I
didn't really know what to
expect and was quite
surprised when they did treat
me very well.
207.
Vietnamese looking into
camera Author's
commentary: Kill - torture - treat
roughly - drag around on a
rope - they did none of
these. The embarrassed
statements of the air pirates
about their ideas before
capture are an admittance of
bad conscience.
208.
Photo: the ten pilots None of these pilots could
tell us what really
awaited him on foreign soil.
209.
Portrait of Vietnamese But each and every Vietnamese
militiamen is prepared in detail for a
meeting with an American air
pilot.
210.
Militiamen with machine gun Each of them
211. Leaflet knows the text of this leaflet.
212.
Parachute coming down Commentary: "Instructions for the capture
of American pirates:
Should the enemy attempt to
land by parachute,
213.
Running militiamen do not shoot. The immediate
sealing off of the area,
search and capture is to be
organised.
214.
Militiamen with parachute All attempts are to be made
215.
Captured pilot is taken away to take the pirate alive. The
enemy is to be prevented from
running away or escaping.
Anyone having contact with
the enemy is to consider him
a defeated enemy and conduct
himself correctly, Do not
mistreat him.
216.
A break. Give him food and water.
The pilot is allowed to smoke Wounded enemies are to be
given first aid!
217.
Shively on the screen, Shively: I had, ah, some injuries that
declared I had, cuts on my arm and
ankles from the ejection, and
they took me right away
218.
Shively after capture into an area of the village
219.
Shively declares and wiped out the cuts and
cleaned them up and put
bandages on them and this
surprised me very much.
220.
Torkelson declares Torkelson: I put my hands up and showed
them that my hands were clear
of the weapon that I was
carrying and they took my
equipment off and took me to
a village. They gave me some
water, and I was pretty
scared at the time.
221.
Photos: Author's
The wounds of prisoners Commentary: Let's keep this in mind:
are dressed Captured pilots are surprised
that the old cliche' over
awaiting torture and death
does not hold true -
instead, he receives first
aid
222.
Downed pilot receives water and a drink of water.
223.
Hughes declares Hughes: They were very kind people. I
had incurred some scratches
and what have you on my
forehead as a result of my
helmet blowing off during
ejection. The village, or
what I suppose was the
village nurse,
224.
Hughes after having been Hughes: dressed these wounds with
shot down Mercurecome
225.
Hughes declares Hughes: or what have you and then
bandaged them. They sheltered
me in a very strong building
226. Hughes after having been and took good care to ensure shot down safety
227.
Hughes declares and housed me until the
authorities came and took me
to the interrogation camp.
228.
Risner declares Risner: I had some injuries on my
knee and some other minor
injuries as I landed.
X: Were you given medical
attention?
Risner: Yes, I, I was allowed to lie
down the first day and the
afternoon of the second day
while progressing towards
Hanoi. In my present camp I
was given medical attention
by out local doctor for my
wounds.
229.
Duart, thoughtful Author's
Commentary: They though they would be
tortured or killed.
230.
Thorsness But that which happened
instead disarmed