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MIA RF-101C pilot shot down over N. Vietnam 1966 care package


matthew123
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I have two flight suits, with 15th TRS Cotton Pickers and Voodoo patches, and dress blues, of a pilot shot down on his 21st combat mission, along with his wingman, fairly early in the Vietnam War, while on photo recon over North Vietnam. The last contact with the pilots was a "He's on fire..." with no call sign. The archive contains all his Air Force paperwork... from his letter of acceptance to cadet training in 1952, pilot evaluations, RF101 training evaluations, yearly pilot flight hours, for every year, from 1954 to 1966, photos of his 1950's Air Rescue (Labrador) and transport airframes, as well his supersonic RF101C (including photos of damage caused in refueling incident in 1966, when both external fuel tanks were torn from the plane, causing a nosedive/near crash, and incident report. He is credited with saving the Air Force a million dollars by not bailing out when told to... hand written 6 page incident report of his hitting a buoy while in air sea rescue in 1957, full hand written notebook while training in RF101s, i.d. card photos, official NVA photos of his crash site from 1966 (he was technically MIA until 1989, but not identified until 1998), all his certifications for all the aircraft he piloted (he made senior pilot in 1957), letters from various presidents on White House stationery to family.... he was pilot for Vice Commander. Probably a thousand pages from his Air Force career... plus all the MIA material, including a care package sent to Hanoi in 1967, but returned unopened.

 

Here is a photo of the POW care package returned from Hanoi in 1967... mailed through the Austrian Embassy, as there was no mail services to the North, and they never allowed a Red Cross visitation. The NVA considered pilots war criminals.

 

Not many of these floating around out there... perhaps none at all.

 

 

post-162395-0-68809500-1466864952.jpg

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manayunkman

Was he a POW or did he die being shot down ?

 

Great provenance and a very interesting story.

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He died when shot down. I have photos from the North Vietnamese of his crash site. His MIA material is voluminous in and of itself... hundreds of letters, articles, much ephemera.

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Unique, but sad on many levels. It would have been heartbreaking for the family to receive this back.

 

For a long time the DoD had no idea which flyers the North Vietnamese had captured and were alive. This would have been a hard way for the family to discover their pilot's fate.

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  • 6 years later...

Hi Matthew123, 

 

This is just amazing - I think you were talking/emailing my brother, Gordon Scott Page. I am Julie Page - Daughter of Captain Gordon Page. Our family would LOVE to have these items again. Seeing the Care Package box, alone, brought back so many memories. 

 

The records of my father are indispensable as well -- and we didn't know where they had gone...but suspected a few scenarios. I am so so happy you found them. 

 

How can we get in touch? I just joined the US Militaria Forum so I could reach you. Did my brother give you my email address? 

 

Talk soon -- all the best, Julie Page 

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