Bill Wilson, a Vietnam Veteran and Museum of Flight Docent, features in this episode of The Flight Deck, sharing his story of bailing out of his crashing General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark just a few miles from Hanoi, the capital of the Communist government of Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. Surrounded by hills, jungle, and enemy combatants, Wilson did everything he could to evade capture long enough for a rescue attempt, a situation made more complicated by the constantly changing weather which foiled efforts to extract him.
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This episode is one part of a two-episode collection titled “A Tale of Two Aviators,” telling the story of two US aviators who served in Vietnam who were both shot down over the course of their service. You can listen to the other episode in this collection here.
As the Museum remains closed at the time of this recording, you can also explore many Vietnam-era artifacts in our digital collections which you can find here.
During this unprecedented time, The Museum of Flight has been working hard to bring our collection to you through the help of virtual experiences and online activities for students and families. Explore our all-new Museum of Flight at Home feature which provides 3D tours of our aircraft, educational recourses, podcasts, videos and so much more!
Museum of Flight at Home: https://pages.museumofflight.org/museum-at-home
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