Gary Labanow has shared this story with us. Gary and I have been friends since high school, and we have the shared experience of being United States Air Force Vietnam War veterans. Gary’s Air Force tales influenced me into joining back in 1968.

After his military service ended, Gary eventually became a pilot, with an interesting and rewarding career in that endeavor. Over the years I have enjoyed hearing about Gary’s flying experiences, and Gary has shared other stories with us on this blog. (My Life as a Pilot)

In this article, Gary shares a story about his friend Dick Kellums.

F4 Phantom Over North Vietnam

           Dick Kellums

      Introduction by Gary Labanow

After my discharge from the Air Force I took a job as a flight instructor with Lufthansa Airline’s training center in Arizona.  It was a massive operation with at that time 120 flight instructors, almost all were retired military pilots. The initial instruction was given in a single engine Bonanza and after a 100 or so hours in that aircraft the students transitioned to a twin engine Baron.  Instructors taught two full classes in the Bonanza then checked out in the Baron and began advanced training for the students in that aircraft.  Dick Kellums was an instructor hired after me and was ready to train in the Baron. So the chief pilot suggested he ride on an instructional flight in the Baron to become somewhat familiar with the instruction techniques and so he joined me on a flight. Each instructor had 2 students one would fly while the second observed from the back seat.  On this flight I had 2 students and Dick in the plane. On this particular flight we had a fuel pump failure and that engine failed.  We landed at an airport in a small town and went into the small operations office.  We called our ops and they said they would send a mechanic and parts so we were to sit and wait.  We were sitting inside and I said to Dick, “I know you flew the F4 Phantom in Vietnam did you ever encounter any MiGs?”

He smiled and said, “Go get us each a coke from the machine over there and I’ll tell you a story”

Dick Kellums story, in his words:

North Vietnamese Mig 21

I was flying MiG Cap (MiG Combat Air Patrol).  We were to remain at altitude watching for MiGs attempting to attack our bombers as they bombed a target in North Vietnam.  If attacked, we were to engage the MiGs and protect the bombers. Rules of engagement were such that if we didn’t encounter MiGs we had to put a bomb on the target or the flight didn’t count toward our 100 missions.

About this time our intercom between me and my back seater became inoperative.  The last bomber pulled off the target which was demolished. With no MiGs in sight I rolled in to put a bomb on the demolished target. As I rolled out lined up on the target I spotted a MiG at our 3 o’clock so I pulled hard and rolled right into the MiG.  All this time my back seater was shouting into a dead mic that there was a MiG on our 6 o’clock.  As I completed the turn, we were raked nose to tail with machine gun fire. I immediately went into afterburner to outrun the MiGs and  headed for feet wet. As we cleared the coast our left engine flamed out. Now the MiGs were left behind and I realized we were leaking fuel at a rapid rate.  I switched to emergency frequency and transmitted our position and distance from Da Nang tacan and stated 8 minutes fuel remaining. I was receiving nothing, so I had no idea if my transmission was going out or not. I transmitted position, distance and fuel remaining every 2 minutes, 6 minutes then 4 minutes then called 2 minutes fuel remaining and signaled my back seater we were about to eject. Then off went the canopy we were shot into the air, got a good chute, the seat released and the life raft was hanging with me. I wondered if anyone had heard my May Day calls.

Unknown to me the search and rescue squadron at Da Nang had gotten a new squadron commander about a week earlier. He had spent a week getting to know his personal and operating procedures. This morning, he was taken for an orientation ride of his area of operations flying in a PBY amphibian aircraft.  As the PBY took off, they heard my first call. They calculated our ejection position and immediately headed to that point.

As I floated down, I was looking to see if there was anything bigger than the me swimming below me when I heard the aircraft. I watched as it circled both me and my back seater. It landed in the water waiting for us to splash down. We were picked up and flown to Da Nang. So to answer your question Gary, yes I did encounter MiGs.

                     ***

Please share this story, crediting Gary, Dick and Joe for the article. Copyright protected, all rights reserved © Joe Campolo Jr