F-4C Phantom Shot Down Over Vietnam: Cockpit Audio of the Crew's Rescue

During the Vietnam War, an RF-4C reconnaissance aircraft recorded the loss of another aircraft, callsign Dodge 2, after it was struck by a surface-to-air missile near Bac Giang in North Vietnam.

Dodge 2 was an F-4C Phantom II, tail number 69-0355, flown by Captain Roger Ernest Behnfeldt with Captain Tamotsu Shingaki serving as weapons systems officer. The aircraft was operating with the 14th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron of the 432nd Tactical Fighter Wing at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base.

The cockpit recording is significant because it preserves the radio and crew reaction around the loss of the aircraft. The surviving recording is not a modern accident investigation; it is a historical combat record.

Captain Shingaki survived the shootdown but was captured by North Vietnamese forces. He was later released on March 29, 1973. Captain Behnfeldt was initially listed as missing in action. His remains were recovered in 1987, fifteen years after the end of the war.

The event demonstrates the particular risks of reconnaissance flying over heavily defended territory. Unlike a peacetime emergency, the threat was deliberate hostile action, and the crew had little opportunity to remove the threat through ordinary diversion or ATC assistance.

The recording also preserves the human side of a combat loss. The crew's words are short and practical because they were dealing with an immediate missile strike and the rapid deterioration of the aircraft.

The recording is associated with the line i don’t feel too bad! preserved in contemporary accounts.

Accident Facts

Recorded line: “i don’t feel too bad!”

Sources

the associated record — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAtECYUyr5A

U.S. Air Force historical material on Vietnam-era aircraft and combat investigations.