LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Arizona --
The air
was thick with emotion as she had been waiting for this moment since the love
of her life passed away more than 46 years earlier.
Andi
Dice was presented the Distinguished Flying Cross Jan. 27 at Luke Air Force
Base on behalf of her husband, Maj. Carl Dice, for his extraordinary heroism
and aerial achievement displayed Dec. 8, 1969, during an F-105F combat mission.
Fellow pilot
and witness to the event, retired Lt. Col. Bruce Cox, shared what occurred that
day.
“Dice
was the leader of Scotch flight, a two-ship interdiction mission into a heavily
defended area of northern Laos,” he said. “His wingman was 1st Lt. Emerson Taylor.
After the flight briefing, they went to the duty desk for aircraft assignments
and final updates to their mission. Dice learned his aircraft would be F-105F
63-8352, while Taylor was assigned an F-105D.”
Although
Dice could have flown the aircraft with the rear cockpit empty, the duty
officer quickly canvassed others in the squadron to offer them the opportunity
to go on this mission. Cox, who was a first lieutenant, was chosen to go.
The
pilots headed toward their target north of Plan of Jars region of the
Xiangkhoang Province Laos, which was controlled by communist Pathet Lao.
“On this
day, Raven 41, a Forward Air Controller, had located a lucrative cache of
military equipment and supplies critical to North Vietnamese offensive
incursions, which was being moved during the cover of darkness from China to North
Vietnam,” he said. “Dice led his flight to the rendezvous point and visually
acquired Raven 41. After a short target briefing, the FAC requested two passes
from each aircraft to saturate the target area with ordnance. Dice saw the
smoke marking the target, received quick target refinement instructions from
the FAC, and rolled in for a manual 30-degree diving delivery.”
After a
successful first-run precisely hitting the target, it was during the second
pass Cox sensed something was wrong.
“We felt
several distinct thumps in the aircraft,” Cox said. “Dice attributed these
thumps to either turbulence or airflow disturbance associated with asymmetric
weapon separation from the aircraft. Even though there were numerous known
anti-aircraft artillery sites in the target area, he continued the attack,
discounting the possibility that the shudders in the aircraft could be from
enemy ground fire. But several seconds after climbing away from the target, he
observed a red warning light in the landing gear handle, red unsafe landing
gear indications for the nose and right main landing gear, and both red unsafe
and green safe indications for the left main gear. He then heard a loud whine and
the utility hydraulic pressure dropped to zero.”
Dice
notified Taylor of the situation and did what he could to keep the aircraft
flying.
“The
aircraft was flying solely on the emergency hydraulic system powered by the ram
air turbine,” Cox said. “Taylor saw several holes in the left wing close to the
fuselage. Dice and I instinctively looked toward the left wing, and I could
clearly see a line of anti-aircraft artillery holes in the wing. Blue flames
were darting from each hole, and the area behind the wing’s leading edge flap
was blackened. Since there was no fuel in the F-105 wings, it was apparent the
fire in the left wing was being fed by highly flammable hydraulic fluid. The
situation was going from bad to worse, and the closest emergency landing field
was nearly 150 miles away.”
Neither
pilots saw ejecting out of the aircraft in unknown hostile territory as an
option. Dice attempted to land at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, an F-4 base
in northern Thailand, 150 miles away. Dice had to take critical steps to stop
the aircraft.
“The
throttle was placed to ‘off,’ the emergency brake handle was pulled, and the
drag chute was deployed at 200 knots,” Cox said. “At 160 knots, he lowered the
nose to the runway and applied wheel brakes. Even using the emergency brake
system, braking was not available because of the total loss of utility
hydraulic system integrity.”
Little
did they know, a large drainage ditch would be their last hope after several
failed attempts to stop the aircraft.
“The
aircraft impacted the flood control ditch at about 75 to 80 knots,” Cox said.
“The plane’s nose dropped and impacted the far side of the ditch, shearing off
the nose gear, the radome, and about ten feet of fuselage. Dice was killed
instantly by the impact.”
Because of Dice’s efforts, Cox survived the
crash.
While
it’s been several years since his passing, his memory was not forgotten as
Dice’s wife and two daughters, Tamara Dice and Judy Webster, family, friends,
colleagues and Luke Thunderbolts came together to honor his memory and present
his wife, Andi, with the Distinguished Flying Cross.
As
Andi reminisced on all the positive memories they had together, she remembered
the person her husband was.
“He was
absolutely devoted to his country,” she said. “He felt he was doing his part
and loved flying the ‘Thuds,’ as they called the F-105s back then. He loved what
he was doing and felt flying was his way of serving his country. All these
years later, the loss is still there. I felt like the world, as well as me, was
cheated of somebody pretty special.”
For
Col. David Shoemaker, 56th Fighter Wing vice commander and presiding officer of
the ceremony, presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Andi was an
incredible experience.
“The
opportunity to make this right with the family was an amazing honor,” Shoemaker
said. “As the prior commander of a squadron with F-105 heritage, it was really
special for me. We talk a lot about taking care of families in the Air Force
and sometimes we forget there’s a whole segment of family out there who are the
survivors when our combat heroes make the ultimate sacrifice. There are spouses
and children who are still a part of the Air Force family that we need to take
care of. The medal presentation was really two things – one, it acknowledged and
recognized a hero extremely important to our Air Force and country, but it also
took care of a debt we owed to his family.”