Pacific Stars and Stripes information
for USS ENTERPRISE
For date 680618
USS ENTERPRISE was a US Navy unit
Primary service involved, US Navy
South Vietnam
Description: 18Jun68-Navy Aviators Fly a 'Ball of Flame' to Safety
USS ENTERPRISE (Special) - Two Enterprise aviators flew their fiercely burning A6 Intruder over 100 miles to safety recently after being hit by antiaircraft fire on a mission over North Vietnam. The two Attack Sq. 35 aviators, Lt. Bruce B. Bremner, 28, Iowa Falls, Iowa, the pilot, and Lt. John T. Fardy, 26, Melrose, Mass., a bombardier/navigator stayed with their burning airplane almost 30 minutes but the spreading flames forced them to bail out only 1 1/2 miles from the Enterprise. Both men were plucked from the Tonkin Gulf uninjured and good spirits. The two aviators were flying a night mission against a heavily defended target and were hit just after bomb release. "We took a direct hit by some kind of detonating shell and part of the instrument panel exploded in the cockpit with a loud thud." Bremner said. "I continued to break toward the sea and started to climb. About this time I saw a bright light in the mirror and I turned to see what it was. The left wing had burst into flames. "We were about ten miles inland so our first objective was to cross the beach and get back out over water. I also wanted to get as high as possible and perhaps starve the fire of oxygen and put it out. "We got over the water okay and passed over a search and rescue destroyer all right so we decided to keep going. About this time we had another A6 join up with us and confirm that the wing was burning pretty badly. "We kept climbing and leveled off at 35,000 feet but the fire kept burning. At that altitude it burned with a blue glow and smaller flame, but it kept burning. "We were 120 to 130 miles from the ship when we were hit and they (the ship) told us they had a ready deck and could take us aboard as soon as we got there. "As we came down near the ship the flames got bigger. The lower I went the bigger the flames got. We passed over the ship about 8,000 and they verified that we were still burning badly." Observers aboard the ship reported the plane as just one large ball of flames. "We went ahead trying to get in position to land hoping to get the plane aboard and save it." Bemner said. "At 2,00 feet we slowed up and put the flaps down. By this time the wing was really burning with a big blaze. I couldn't see very well and it was beginning to look hopeless. It was so dark outside and so bright around the airplane that it ruined my night vision. I couldn't see the ship or much of anything out of the cockpit. "About this time the LSO (landing safety officer), who was watching us from the ship, advised us to eject and so did our wingman. As it began to get warmer in the cockpit I assumed the flame was getting too close to the fuselage and since an A-6 carries fuel in the fuselage we decided to eject. "Lt. Fardy went out first. I had a little trouble getting the plan trimmed (stabilized) for me to eject and I finally wound up holding the stick between my knees and pulling the ejection handle. "We were hardly in the water any time at all. I was only a mile and a half from the ship when I ejected and the helo came right over, picked me up and then Fardy. As far as the rescue goes, everything worked perfectly."
The source for this information was 6806PSS.AVN supplied by Les Hines 3/97
Additional information is available on CD-ROM.
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Date posted on this site:
05/13/2023