B-52 Wreckage From Operation Linebacker II

[vintageproductions]

Here a couple of more pieces that are in showcases in the showroom, but not really for sale.

Both of these pieces are from documented B-52 wrecks in Vietnam. I have all the paperwork from the Vietnamese Government and the status of the members.

Both planes took off from Guam on their missions. I will have to add the rest of the info when I am back at the shop.

Before certain members question the authenticity of these they are from the same person that sold me my documented Hanoi Hilton blankets that are shown in the POW section of the forum.

 

[TLHorstead]

While I am not interested in obtaining the items. I am wondering what tail number the items are from, as I launched 58-201 on it's final mission I can give you some information about the crew. 201 was the first "G" Model shoot down, at Yen Vien on 12/18/72 at 1313Z Crew: 3 KIA (AC/CP/G) & 3 POW (RN/Nav/EWO)

 

Terry L Horstead

[vintageproductions]

Terry-Sorry for the delay as I kept forgetting to pull the paperwork out on these pieces.

 

One of them was shot down December 18th 1972 and was a B-52G from Anderson AFB Guam and flown by a crew from Blytheville AFB Arkansas. The callsign was either Charcoal 1 or Peach 02.

 

The other was shot down on December 27th and the callsign was Cobalt 01. It was a B-52D from Utapo and flown by a crew from the 320th bomb wing, Mathers AFB, California and the 22nd Bomb Wing from March AFB

[Bugme]

Amazing, it's just aluminum and rivets but, then you add the provenance and it becomes very interesting, thought provoking & sobering.

[vintageproductions]

I agree.

The sad part is, these were offered to the National Air Force museum at Dayton. They told the seller they had no interest and they already had some. Well when I was there there last year they had nothing like this on display, just photos of wreck sites in Vietnam. They then told the seller the items were too expensive, and I thought they were a bargain.

[History Man]

Amazing pieces with significant history, I for one have never seen these types of relics before. I do not think they could have found a better home!

 

Philip

[MattS]

The only local serviceman from my county still unaccounted for went down on a B-52 in July of 1967. The only wreckage from that aircraft was located floating in the South China Sea. Thanks for sharing!

[northcoastaero]

Vietnam Air Losses by Chris Hobson is an informative book on the subject. I will have to reference it for

the B-52 aircraft tail numbers. Also, there is a great amount of useful references in the bibliography of

this book.

[northcoastaero]

Here is some info on the B-52 losses:

 

Charcoal 01..S/N 58-0201.

Peach 02.....S/N 58-0246.

Cobalt 01....S/N 56-0605.

July 1967....S/N 56-0595 or 56-0627.

[DocDave]

Howdy,

 

My Uncle, 1st Lt Bennie L. Fryer, was KIA by an SA-2 SAM in Cobalt 1 (B-52 56-0606) on December 28, 1972 (officially, but 2300 on the 27th local time) while trying to bomb the Trung Quan Rail-yard NW of Hanoi (see http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/f/f079.htm). The plane went down with my uncle on board because he was unconscious after the SAM blast and likely dead. Everyone else ejected or bailed out of the plane. Four of the crew survived confinement and torture in the Hanoi Hilton and were released in Feb of 1973, which is when we found out the fate of my uncle. His remains were finally returned on Sept 30th 1977 (this is a long and interesting story on its own). The remains of the EWO were not returned until 1985.

 

 

The B-52 crashed only 500m from Ho Chi Minh's wooden house which was the spiritual heart of the North Vietnamese fighters (my uncle was the navigator/bombardier, so he just missed). One of its engines fell in the Hanoi Zoo just one hundred steps from the Presidential Palace. And the largest piece of the B-52 landed in Huu Tiep Lake where as far as I know it still remains as a monument to "defeating the US Imperialist's strategic air raid." If that's not bad enough the site was used as a backdrop for an episode of CBS's Amazing Race. The rest of what is left of his plane we thought was on display at the "B-52 Victory Museum" a few blocks form the crash site in Hanoi, so I was floored to see that there is a piece of Bennie's plane in the US! As you can probably guess this, even after all these years, is still a very a very emotional subject for me and my family.

 

I tried to post photos of Bennie's plane being shot down, the wreckage in Huu Tiep Lake, the sign they have posted at the lake and the wreckage at the "museum" in Hanoi, but the form won't let me post JPGs apparently. I'll see if I can figure that out and post them.

 

Do you still have the piece of wreckage from my uncle's plane? If so, where can we see it, and if you decide you do not want it any more, my family would like to acquire it. My sister lives in LA, so she could easily get to Huntington Beach.

 

Thank you for your consideration,

Dave

[DocDave]

Here are the photos, I think.

Dave

[viking73]

I must have missed this thread first time around back in '13. Those bits of wreckage are very incredible and it's amazing that you have them. "Wow" comes to mind...

 

Very sorry to hear of your uncles loss over Vietnam Dave.

 

-Derek