HARTMAN-CHARLES

UNUSUAL  MIG  KILL  BY  A  PROPELLER  AIRCRAFT

On June 20, 1965, Charles William Hartman III was the pilot of a propeller driven Douglas A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft in a flight of four that was headed on a rescue flight to the northwest corner of North Vietnam where an Air Force photo-recon pilot had been shot down.  The flight of Attack Squadron Twenty-Five had flown from the carrier USS Midway and as they neared the downed pilot’s location, they were informed that two MIG-17 fighters were ahead of them.  The enemy MIGs, 600-mph fighters were small, built for speed and vastly superior to the overmatched Skyraiders whose only advantage over MIGs was its superior turning ability.

As the four Skyraiders approached, the two MIGs turned toward them and fired while heading directly toward their targets.  At the last second, to escape from the incoming fire, the Skyraiders dived to the treetops, nearly brushing the jungle canopy.  The foursome split into pairs and Hartman’s partner was Clinton Bernard Johnson, each turning in tight defensive circles as the MIG’s tracers blazed by the two tight circling aircraft.  Then the MIG pilots made a mistake for they turned to fly directly toward their circling targets.  As they approached Hartman’s aircraft he was able to fire his guns as the head-on MIG passed so close that he thought the tail hook of Johnson’s Skyraider had struck the MIG’s vertical stabilizer as it passed.  Hartman’s rounds appeared to go down the intake and into the wing root.  Johnson’s fire appeared to strike the top of the MIG’s fuselage and through the canopy.  The MIG never returned fire as it rolled inverted and hit a small hill exploding and burning in a farm field.

The Douglas Skyraider was designed during the late stages of World War II but was produced too late to be engaged during the war.  In 1965 it was still operational, but the 20-year-old design was considered to have been perfected as far as the engineers could take it and that its time was over as a front-line attack aircraft.  The VA-25 squadron was the last operational Skyraider attack squadron in the Navy.  Naval pilots regularly expressed the opinion that the destruction of a MIG by Skyraiders on June 20, 1965, was a fluke.  It was also the first aerial gun kill of the Vietnam War.

Charles William Hartman III died May 26, 2003, and is buried at Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, Florida.  Hartman and Johnson were both awarded the Silver Star Medal in recognition of their actions on June 20, 1965.

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Lieutenant Junior Grade Charles W. Hartman, United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving with Attack Squadron TWENTY-FIVE (VA-25), embarked in USS MIDWAY (CVA-41) flying fixed wing aircraft during a mission in support of combat operations in Southeast Asia against North Vietnamese forces on 20 June 1965.  Lieutenant Junior Grade Hartman demonstrated an exceptionally high degree of proficiency and utilizing his experience to full advantage, Lieutenant Junior Grade Hartman, in spite of the distinct advantage held by the enemy aircraft, skillfully evaded the hard-pressed attacks and then, initiating an attack of his own, accounted for a confirmed kill, and drove off the remaining Fresco.  By daring action, exceptional skill and devotion to duty Lieutenant Junior Grade Hartman upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)