34

4 July -

Took my first good solid hit yesterday -
CAS/DAS with Don Berry up near the
firebreak - 2/3 west & 600 meters north.
One turn around the target - marked -
Don rolled in & off - I rolled in from
8000 ft - 30 degrees - Just thunk & sudden
decel at about 3500 - tried to fire guns but
no go - master arm off ! - and no air in
bottles - anyway - Don said I was
[?] fuel so headed for the ocean -
lost 3600 in about 4 minutes. Transferred
about 600# back into ext tank by
pressing [?] wing. Then transferred to
fusilage cell by way of special "bullet hole"
[?] AFC 317. - Dumped 10-D1 in
ocean[?] [?] & ships - all went
off which I'll bet woke up some sailors.
Made Danang with 700# and shut down
on Rwy - fuel still leaking after stop
Don went back to Clu Cai -
Towed plane to ctag [?] H & N [wh?]
STRAAD - Hopes to patch it up in 12 days -
met Smiley on his way back from soccer in
Pdu Bai - we chowed and borrowed
VW from clubs & hooked a GV back to 50

Day after we lost one F-8 & one F-4
in same area - believe they rescued all-
F-? crew next morning however
Bill Loftus got hit twice in two hops -
I was wing on second - made one run
[sal?] [?] & 14 K-[?] - and
left the area, he went back for second
run & got hit - 12.7 in aileron - Small
airframe - huge hit.

Have 6 hops so far this month - mostly
day CAS/DAS - Good BDA generally -
structures, bunkers, NVA -

3 flights yesterday accounted for
80 V.C. - They salvoed in the middle of
"Human Wave" at locks. north of firebreak -

Got the concrete floor in today - all
except under the [?] bar - Awaiting
water pipes - all day job !

LTCOL ? Kept bar open late so I
did a little paper work -

Woke me up to fly 0400 TVQ with MAJOR
Coffin - Salvoed on artillery posts in DMZ
2 - secondary fires -