51-071

On March 14, 1966 at 12:00 AM, 51-071 experienced a crash involving Grumman HU-16 (SA-16) Albatross, operated by United States Air Force - USAF, with the event recorded near H<U+1EA3>i Phòng H<U+1EA3>i Phòng City District.

The flight was categorized as ambulance and the reported phase was parking at a lake, sea, ocean, river crash site.

6 people were known to be on board, 2 fatalities were recorded, 4 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 33.3%.

Crew on board: 6, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is terrorism act, hijacking, sabotage. The HU-16B Albatross flying boat was deployed to rescue two crew members of a downed McDonnell Douglas F-4C Phantom off Haiphong in the Gulf of Tonkin. The Albatross landed in the sea close to the shoreline. It was quickly approached by several North Vietnamese boats. They began to open fire on the Albatross, finally firing a mortar shell. They flying boat burst into flames. The survivors were later rescued by Navy helicopters. Crew: Cpt David P. Westenbarger, Lt Walter Hall, Cpt Donald Price, S/Sgt Clyde Jackson, A1C Robert Larie Hilton, † A1C James Edward Pleiman. † Source: Chris Hobson & Joe Baugher.

Aircraft reference details include registration 51-071, MSN G-151, year of manufacture 1952.