What happened
During the Linebacker II operation over Vietnam, an aircraft operating under the call sign Preach 02 departed from Andersen AFB on Guam. The flight was manned by seven crew members. While traversing the airspace near Kinh No, Vietnam, the aircraft type was targeted and struck by an enemy SA-2 surface-to-air missile.
Following the impact, the crew managed to navigate the plane away from the immediate combat zone, heading toward Nam Phong Airbase in Thailand. However, the damage sustained made continued flight impossible, necessitating that the crew bail out of the aircraft. The plane subsequently entered a dive and crashed in a remote location situated approximately 30 km southwest of Nam Phong. The impact resulted in the total destruction of the airframe.
Despite the severity of the crash, all seven crew members survived the incident and were successfully evacuated from the area.
Findings
Investigations into the loss of the aircraft concluded that the primary reason for the crash was that the plane was shot down by enemy fire.