In the early afternoon of May 14, 1967, a U.S. Navy F-4B Phantom II fighter jet, flown by Ev Southwick and Jack Rollins, launched from the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier sailing in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam. As part of a massive aerial attack against the infamous Thanh Hoa Bridge south of Hanoi, in an area known to American airmen as “Route Package IV,” Southwick and Rollins flew a flak suppression mission against the bridge’s formidable air defenses. Their Phantom came under deadly antiaircraft fire. The two men never returned to the carrier.
Phantom in the River is the true, detailed account of the two airmen, their harrowing mission and survival, and their plane — the F-4B Phantom II — a masterpiece of American aviation the Vietnamese referred to as Con ma. Includes more than 50 rare photographs.
CAG: The Naval Aviation Career of Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale (1949-1965) In His Own Words
Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale is best remembered for his tremendous courage and outstanding leadership during the seven plus years he was the senior military officer held captive in the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War. For his actions he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1976 and
