In Memory of Commander Thomas A. Tucker
On This Day… August 31st, 1966
As Audacious As It Gets – The Rescue of Tom Tucker
Tucker’s mission was to fly directly over one of the most heavily defended areas in North Vietnam in broad daylight, more or less straight and level, at photo-taking altitude, an altitude way too low for comfort. He set up for a high-speed run from shore to sea so that, if damaged, he would already be headed for the relative safety of “feet wet.”
Unfortunately, his prudent plan was not rewarded. Seeing the black puffs of heavy 85mm AA guns, mixed with the gray puffs of medium 37mm AA guns, and the necklaces of green basketballs from 12.7mm and 23mm AA machine guns, he could only jink and weave and hurry toward the sea. The 37mm fire struck the RF-8 and he immediately lost control of the jet and ejected at 1,500 feet.
Floating under a good canopy, Tucker was fired upon by AA guns and small arms. He splashed down not far from a Russian ship tied up at the quay wall, and about 100 yards from the other shore. The Russian crew got busy with a lifeboat. Sampans and sailboats put out from the shore, and men along the banks kept him under small arms fire. His gun-bird escort, LCDR Foster “Tooter” Teague, there to keep MiGs off Tucker’s back, saw the boats coming out and roared down in a strafing run that sank one, set another on fire, and sent the rest scuttling back to shore where they beached themselves.
Teague contacted the Navy SAR commander “Harbor Master” in the Gulf of Tonkin who received the alarm and immediately set to work summoning “Big Mother”. The helicopter aircraft had overheard the very concerned Tooter Teague reporting the aircraft downing over Haiphong of his photo reconnaissance charge OVER Haiphong, not Near Haiphong.
Tucker would be a POW soon if a rescue could not be quickly made.
As the helo entered the outer mouth of the harbor, six miles from the entrance of the secondary shipping channel, two SAMs exploded right above them. they immediately dove for the deck, streaking across the water at two or three feet altitude as fast as the big helicopter could go. Teague swung around behind them and began making passes, first at junks along Big Mother’s path, and then at the AA guns along the banks of the channel.
Amid shell splashes, tracer fire, and harbor smoke, Big Mother threaded her way through the shipping in the harbor, weaving right and left while keeping low. They could see the smoke stacks of Haiphong factories ahead and to the left.
Concentrating on dodging the splashes and the ships, and the junks, Big Mother slalomed right by Tucker whose red smoke flare was somehow missed in all the distractions.
The helo crew engaged the junks with their M60 machine guns, checking fire to avoid shooting their own rotors as they maneuvered the Big Mother around in a tight high angle bank turn, rolling right into an extreme, nose-up flare to a quick stop, rocking over to hover right above Tucker’s raft.
Amidst the wild maneuvers, the crew had already reeled out and coiled the hoist cable so they could cast it down rather than endure the time it took to unreel. Flinging the horsecollar accurately Tucker got into the sling correctly on the first try and in record time.
‘We’ve got him.” the crew cried before the helo’s pilot could even settle into a stable hover. He nosed her right on over, not waiting for Tucker to be hoisted into the cabin. The helicopter turned and began the gauntlet back down the shipping channel and across the harbor toward the open sea, reeling in Tom Tucker as they went.
Nobody could believe they had pulled it off, against all odds, from right in the enemy’s front yard, and in broad daylight. Perhaps the sheer audacity of even attempting the rescue was the difference. It didn’t hurt that they flew a profile which forced many enemy guns to have to check fire or shoot up their own and friendly merchant ships which filled the harbor, the channel, and surrounded the rescue area.
This was one of the most daring and sensational rescue missions of the war.
