Pilot, Squadron Leader
12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron USAF, RAAF
Saigon, Tan Son Nhut
Jun 1968 - Nov 1968
I was an Australian exchange officer flying RF4C Phantoms and training United States Air Force (USAF) pilots and navigators to go to Vietnam. I felt I needed some Vietnam experience if I were to do my job as an instructor. I managed to persuade both the US and Australian Governments to let me go to the war. I claim to be one of the few people ‘invited’ to the war because, for protocol reasons, the USAF could not order me to go. I was on exchange with the USAF from 1967 to 1970. My job was to fly reconnaissance missions in South and North Vietnam. My navigator was from North Carolina, so we named our aircraft the ‘Carolina Kangaroo’. All up, I flew 100 missions in Vietnam.
Service No. O52363