Bear Taylor 
COMMEMORATING THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR (1961-1973)… and honoring the gallant Naval Aviators, Naval Flight Officers, and aircrewmen who carried the war to the heartland of North Vietnam in the years of Operation Rolling Thunder (1965-1968)…
GOOD MORNING. WHEN NAVAL AVIATION ROARED… #10… a tale of the brave and bold… 27 October 1967…
USS ORISKANY (CVA-34) and CARRIER AIR WING 16 (“Bloody Sixteen”) were on their third deployment to Southeast Asia to participate in the Vietnam air war. They departed NAS Alameda in Oakland and their air bases on 16 June 1967 and returned on 31 January 1968. On 27 October 1967 the ship and air wing were in the third of five line-periods at Yankee Station, where they conducted strike operations for 122 days at the cost of twenty (20) aviators killed-in-action and another seven (7) captured and held POW. Thirty-nine aircraft were lost on the deployment. The full story of Oriskany and CVW-16 is told in Peter Fey’s superb history of the air wing in BLOODY SIXTEEN… “Fey portrays the Oriskany and its heroes in an indelible memorial to the fallen of CVW-16 in hopes that the lessons learned from such strategic disasters (as the Vietnam war) are not forgotten in today’s sphere of war-bent politics.”… (also available at www.abebooks.com)
THIS TALE OF THE BRAVE AND BOLD is the combat action of two ORISKANY Lieutenants Junior Grade, USNR, flown on 27 October 1967 as part of an Air Wing 16 strike on the Kim Quan Ferry Crossing in southeast Hanoi. LTJG George Frank SCHINDELAR and LTJG Roger Steven DUTER were wingmen in the 26 aircraft strike force.
THE MISSION. “Bloody Sixteen” was ordered to strike the Kim Quan Ferry Crossing, a military target within the city limits of Hanoi that was considered an essential link in the North Vietnamese logistical system. The object of the mission was to effect a long term interdiction of the ferry crossing utilizing influenced fuzed delayed action bombs. The mission was planned, briefed and led by COMMANDER William F. SPAN, VA-164…
THE ENEMY DEFENSES. Downtown Hanoi. The target was at the very heart of North Vietnam’s most concentrated and integrated defensive system of antiaircraft artillery positions, surface-to-air missile batteries and MiG bases. The entire Hanoi complex of 200 gun barrels, eight active SAM sites and more than 30 MiG fighters was linked by the latest Soviet communications and radar systems. The array of defensive AAA and SAM sites covered the entire 70 mile route to and from the target. On the day of this mission-27 Oct 1967- the Air Force lost five strike aircraft in the process of executing missions into this cauldron of enemy opposition. All five of the Air Force losses were within a few miles of the “Bloody Sixteen” target in Downtown Hanoi. The enemy was primed and ready for CVW-16 and LTJGS SCHINDELAR and DUTER. When the strike group was still 30 miles from the target in Hanoi, the formation was taken under fire by 37mm, 57mm and 85mm antiaircraft gunfire. The first of several volleys of SAMs was evaded fifteen miles from the target and MiG warnings were issued for the entire duration of the strike force’s thirty minutes over the beach. As the strike group turned in for the final five mile run to the target and rollin for the dive bombing attack, the North Vietnamese responded with a sustained launch of SAMs from three directions. At least ten missiles were observed as the brave and bold of “Bloody Sixteen” carried out their “mining” attack on the ferry crossing.
LTJG DUTER was the strike leader’s wingman. Throughout the continuous barrage of flak and missiles directed against the strike leader LTJG DUTER, in a display of superior aerial skill, cool judgment and raw courage, again and again warned the strike lead of missiles threatening the strike group. His timely calls allowed the lead to take successful evasive action while leading the entire strike force to the target. At roll-in, LTJG DUTER followed the lead and plunged his A-4 Skyhawk through the intense antiaircraft fire and placed his weapons on his assigned target in the ferry crossing waters less than five miles from the center of the city of Hanoi. LTJG DUTER maintained tight section integrity on his leader through the attack and in the retirement through the continuing opposition of AAA and SAMs to feet wet…
LTJG SCHINDELAR flew the wing of the second division leader, LCDR Denis R. WEICHMAN– who would log more than 600 combat missions during the war– in the 27 October 1967 attack on the ferry crossing. Throughout the opposed ingress and attack LTJG SCHINDELAR maintained his tactical wing position. In several instances he observed missiles tracking other aircraft in the formation and provided timely and accurate warnings contributing to the successful evasion of the enemy SAMs. Throughout several violent evasive maneuvers he held steady on the wing of his leader. Upon reaching the dive attack roll-in point LTJG SCHINDELAR’s flight was required to evade two more enemy missiles taking the flight into intense 37mm and 57mm gunfire and requiring repositioning for the attack on the ferry crossing. LTJG SCHINDELAR hung with his leader in the maneuver and in the attack to accurately deliver his ordnance on his assigned area of the targeted waters. On retirement he continued to maintain formation integrity.
“Throughout this action, the courage of LTJG DUTER and LTJG SCHINDELAR, in the face of extreme personal danger, their aggressive pursuit of the dangerous task at hand, their outstanding performance in warning other pilots of immediate peril, and their precise and successful delivery of their ordnance in the most effective patterns were indeed performance above and beyond the call of duty.” (Source: Humble Host notes from review of CINCPACFLT awards records held at the Navy Annex in Suitland, Maryland in 1985)…
BITS OF RIBBON. It is interesting to note that the date of this heroic mission came more than four months into the deployment and after more than 60 days of combat. Neither LTJG DUTER or LTJG SCHINDELAR had received any awards. Recommended for many: awarded none. The process of appropriate recognition and reward for heroism in Vietnam strike operations –Rolling Thunder–was slow, lean and mean. For their bold, brave performance on 27 October 1967 the two young aviators were recommended for Individual Air Medals. They were notified of approval of downgraded awards of Navy Commendation Medals with Valor devices by Commander SEVENTH FLEET in February 1968… Other “Bloody Sixteen” pilots on the strike recommended for medals included the strike leader COMMANDER SPAN (Silver Star), LCDR Denny WEICHMAN (DFC), LCDR Earl JACKSON (Air Medal), LCDR Edwin VAN ORDEN (DFC, posthumously awarded– LCDR VAN ORDEN perished on 19 Nov 1967 on a cold cat shot), LT Earl CLARK, CVW-16 Staff (Air Medal), LT Harding MEADOWS (NCMwV), and LTJG Edwin CHADWICK (Air Medal)…
NEXT POST. Tales of the Brave and Bold #11… USS TICONDEROGA and CVW-19 close down the Vinh Airfield and leave the Vinh Petroleum Storage Facility in flames when Naval Aviation roared on 14 February 1968.
Lest we forget… Bear
