WHAT I CAN DO - I WILL -

The F105 Thunderchief (or "Thud") performed yoeman service on many diversified missions in Southeast Asia. F105s flew more combat missions over North Vietnam than any other USAF aircraft and consequently suffered the heaviest losses in action. They dropped bombs by day and occasionally by night from high or low altitude and some later versions (F105D in Wild Weasel guise) attacked SAM sites with their radar tracking air-to-ground missiles. This versatile aircraft was also credited with downing 25 Russian MiGs.

On 30 September 1968, then Capt. Clifford W. Fieszel, pilot, and Major Howard H. Smith, electronics warfare officer, comprised the crew of an F105F Thunderchief Wild Weasel, call sign "Bison 01." At 1519 hours, Bison flight departed Takhli Airbase as the lead aircraft in a flight of two on an operational "Iron Hand Troll" mission to kill a surface-to-air missile (SAM) site in Route Package 1; 5 ¼ nautical miles west of the major port city of Dong Hoi, Quang Binh Province, North Vietnam.

The weather conditions during their afternoon flight consisted of overcast cloud cover with bases from 3,000 feet, tops at 8,000 feet. Visibility was 7 miles with no obstructions for 4 to 8 miles. Terrain features included a north-south running single-track railroad line that ran parallel to and approximately 6 miles inland from the coastline. To the east of the railroad tracks was the coastal shelf with rich rice fields surrounding Dong Hoi. Just to the west of the tracks dense jungle covered mountain foothills quickly gave way to rugged mountains.

After arriving in the operational area, Capt. Fieszel contacted the on-site airborne control center for clearance into the target. Bison flight was cleared in on the identified SAM site and proceeded to execute their mission. While ingressing Route Package 1, the wingman received 37mm anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) hits forcing Bison 02 to abort the mission and head out to sea with battle damage. While departing the area, the pilot of Bison 02 attempted to contact Bison Lead; but was unable to make contact. Bison 02 was then diverted by the airborne controller to DaNang Airbase, South Vietnam - some 100 miles to the south-southeast - where they were safely recovered.

Approximately 3 minutes later the pilot of an aircraft in another flight picked up an emergency radio transmission and identified the voice as that of Clifford Fieszel. Shortly thereafter a beeper signal was heard emanating from the jungle foothills approximately 1 mile west of the railroad track. Likewise, the other pilots could not tell whether it was from Capt. Fieszel or Maj. Smith. At 1805 hours, the command center at Takhli was notified that Bison Lead was missing.

Search and rescue units monitored beeper signals for 24 hours after Fieszel's plane went down, but were unable to rescue him or Smith. On the following day, Radio Hanoi announced that two F105's had been shot down in the Quang Khe and the pilot of the second plane had been captured. On 07 October, a Hanoi newspaper repeated the story. It was thought that the Vietnamese believed the wingman's plane had also gone down since it was on fire when it headed out to sea. No mention was made of Smith in either report.

Howard H. Smith was promoted to the rank of Colonel and Clifford W. Fieszel to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel during the period they were maintained Missing in Action.

Opal Fieszel Button of Texarkana, Texas, passed away on 01 August 2002. She was the mother of LtCol. Clifford W. Fieszel.

Biographical and incident of loss information was obtained from either POW/NET and/or Task Force Omega, Inc (unless otherwise noted). Additional information may be found via remembrances at The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund or The Virtual Wall Vietnam Veterans Memorial.