What happened
During the Linebacker II operation over North Vietnam, an aircraft operating from U-Tapao NAS was flying over the Hanoi region when it sustained damage from an SA-2 surface-to-air missile. The flight was carrying a total of six crew members at the time of the engagement.
Following the missile strike, the crew attempted to navigate away from the target zone with the intention of performing an emergency landing back at U-Tapao NAS. However, the damage was severe, resulting in the complete loss of service to all four engines on the left side of the plane. Due to the critical state of the propulsion system, the decision was made to abandon the aircraft. The crew members successfully exited the plane via bailout procedures before the aircraft crashed in a remote location. All six crew members were subsequently located and found to be alive.
Findings
Investigation into the incident concluded that the primary reason for the aircraft's destruction was that it was shot down by enemy fire.