| Date: 26 December 1971 |
| Aircraft type: F-4D Phantom |
| Serial Number: 66-8818 |
| Military Unit: 433 TFS, 8 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Ubon |
| Name(s): |
| Capt Lawrence Gene Stolz (KIA) |
| 1Lt Dale Francis Koons (KIA) |
| A flight of four Phantoms from Ubon flew a Proud Deep strike against a storage complex at Thanh Hoa in North Vietnam on Boxing Day. About 10 miles south of Thanh Hoa the flight came under fire from a SAM site and one of the aircraft (call sign Coach) was hit by an SA-2. The aircraft entered cloud and was not seen again by the other members of the flight. It is not known if the crew were able to eject before the aircraft crashed but a few days later the North Vietnamese published a photograph, which was reprinted in a Dutch newspaper, showing identification papers and other personal items of Capt Stolz and 1Lt Koons. The original photograph had a note stating that the crew were killed when their aircraft crashed near the Ham Rong or Dragon’s Jaw Bridge. On 3 January 1990 it was announced by the US Government that remains previously handed over by the Vietnamese had been identified as those of the Phantom crew. |
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