Winning

18 May, 1972

MiG-19 F-4B, VF-161, CVW-5, CVA-41. A/C No. NF-110 BuNo 153068 Lt Henry “Bart” Bartholomay

Lt Oran Brown

MiG-19 F-4B, VF-161, CVW-5, CVA-41. A/C No. NF-105 BuNo 153915 Lt Pat Arwood

Lt Mike “Taco” Bell

Narration by “Taco” Bell

The Midway had been sent to WestPac seven weeks early for this cruise. In fact, we had just steamed out of San Francisco for our pre-ORI drill when we were recalled to port and given short notice to get ready to pull out. Once we arrived in the Tonkin Gulf we spent about ten days working in South Vietnam, mostly around An Loe, trying to relieve the siege.

We moved north on May 12. I was flying RIO with a “nugget”, that is, a new guy. Pat Arwood had only had about 150 hours in the F-4 when we arrived at Yankee Station. I had two prior combat cruises, but on each of them, we had only worked in Laos and South Vietnam. During our first week on station, Pat and I only flew BARCAPS, and until the day we got our MiG, neither of us had flown over North Vietnam.

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