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| Summary of Black Lion report Black Lion was the call sign of a pair of Navy F-4 Fighters that were in the area when Gombey 19 went down.They were involved in another bombing mission at that time.. When Gombey 25 initiated the SAR, Black Lion was diverted to Ban Kari Pass to assist. Black Lion was south of the crash site and headed north. As the jets passed over the Nam Te Le River, they began to recieve beeper signals. The beeper signal persisted until they arrive at the site at which time the signal stopped. No survivors were seen as they passed over the downed plane. Enemy troops were heading toward Gombey 19 and the jets made several bombing runs North of the crash site to supress enemy movement. Both fighters expended all bombs and were running low on fuel as A1E Sandies, prop driven attack fighter bombers, arrived. One F4 dove over the crash site to pin point its location to the Sandies and was hit by anti aircraft fire. It traveled on fire about 3 miles west of Gombey 19's crash site where both crew members ejected. It was at this point that the SAR mission was diverted to rescue the F-4's crew. Both Black Lion crew members were rescued and flown to Ka San. Vietnam by Jolly Green Helocopters Attention again was returned to the Gombey 19 Crash site. |