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Got A Good Photo of an Electric Goon Wreck?

Want to Share it?
Be sure and read the information supplied by retired
CMSgt Steven L. Pennington of Edmonds Washington, about
this aircraft loss at at the bottom of the page.




These 7 photos above were supplied by Fred Lewis

Pictures taken at Danang after a rocket attack. The EC-47 was in the process of being
refueled when the rockets came in and they say it took a direct hit. At the time there
were a few ground crew members in the area and if I remember right one was sitting
inside the aircraft when the siren went off. There was no one hurt as the ground crew
and fuel truck driver dove into a revetment as soon as the siren went off. The plane
next to the one hit was splashed with fuel and it was destroyed as well.

The 2 Photos above of EC-47 102 at Danang in 1972,
supplied by Wayne H. Thompson

From an article by CMS Steven L. Pennington, Sr., USAF Ret.

The early morning hours of 13 April, 1972 left me with one of
the most memorable experiences of the war, when at 01:32 hours
the night was lit by 24 rockets landing randomly around the base.
Typical of the H&I fire we were accustomed to, the hostile rounds
were pointed at us and not aimed. This was the 430th attack on a
U.S. Air Base since records were started in November 1964. What
made this night stand out in my remembrance was not the intensity
of the attack, but random targets that were hit.

Across the field from our living area at Gunfighter Village was
the revetment area for the EC-47's of the 362nd TEWS, an Electronic
Warfare outfit. The airplanes were WWII vintage but served well in
the role of the Electric Goon. On the night of 13 April, one of
these aircraft was being fueled and serviced for an early morning
mission, a job that normally involves three people to perform. With
the maintenance work done, all that was left was to top off the fuel
tanks and get ready for the flight crew.

With one man in the cockpit, one at the nozzle, and one at the fuel
truck, the reoutine procedure was started. As the fuel began to flow,
a short round landed outside the base. Being no novice in rocket
attacks, the man at the truck shut off the valve and ran to the
person on the nozzle, who joined hin in running to the safety of
the next revetment. Realizing they had left their comrade in the
airplane, they ran back to the plane and physically pulled their
friend from the cockpit and down the aisle to the aft door. As they
cleared the door, more rounds started impacting. When the reached
safety, the night sky was turned into daylight as a 122 impacted
the aircraft just aft of the cockpit, went through the fuselage, and
exploded on the ground. With a roar, 10,000 gallons of 115/145 went
up taking the plane and truck with it. We could feel the heat shimmer-
ing a quarter mile away! All that the firefighting equipment could do
was contain the fire from spreading to other nearby aircraft and keep
the loss at a minimum. The three ground crew members were the luckiest
guys I knew. Not a scratch. The next morning all you could identify
was a mass of melted metal that had been the EC-47 and fuel truck.
Shrapnel had damaged a couple of nearby airplanes which were soon
repaired amidst the stench of fire suppression foam.

The official account of the attack lists casualties of that night at
one killed and 10 wounded with one aircraft destroyed and five damaged
plus an additional four VNAF aircraft damaged.

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