On March 12, 1967, Air Force Capt. John Clark was piloting an RF-4C Phantom II on a tactical reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam. To keep under the enemy’s radar and offer less acquisition time for anti-aircraft gun crews, he was flying at an extremely low altitude ― just 100 feet off the ground.
The RF-4C was an unarmed, supersonic jet aircraft that carried a variety of film-based cameras as well as infrared and radar sensors for the purpose of intelligence gathering. The tandem two-seat plane was manned by pilots whose motto was “Alone, Unarmed, and Unafraid.”
Although Clark and the other pilot in his plane viewed this particular mission as a low risk “milk run,” their circumstances changed quickly after their jet was hit by 37mm ground fire.
“We were flying at a speed of about 600 miles per hour when the plane pitched up and began tumbling,” Clark said. “We were heading for the side of a mountain and the aircraft was out of control. At that point, we were just along for the ride, so we had to eject.”
Clark was unable to reach the primary ejection handles located above his head because of the extreme G-forces created as the plane tumbled out of control. Instead he grabbed the backup ejection handle between his legs and pulled.
“There was no time to consider other important factors, such as the position of the canopy in relationship to the ground,” Clark said. “The plane was tumbling end over end and if we ejected while the canopy was facing down, we both would have been shot into the ground and killed instantly. However, we had to get out, so I pulled the handle, and well, nothing happened.”