Relative to the F-4 Phantom II, 12 TFW, or Vietnam
(Exerpt from Aviation History, May, 1995)
Colonel Ralph Parr achieved 10 kills in 30 missions in the F-86 in Korea. In 1967 he became the 12 TFW DCO at Cam Ranh Bay AB.
The most memorable of Parr's combat missions during that tour took place on March 16, 1968. Assigned to one of two F-4s escorting Lockheed C-130 Hercules cargo planes during resupply of the Marines at Khe Sanh, Parr had Captain Tom McManus as his back seat crew member. As they were coming in on the rendezvous point, Fingerprint 54, a Marine forward air controller (FAC) plane, diverted the flight to attack two mortar positions firing on Khe Sanh from a location within 70 meters of friendly troops. Napalm was the best under-wing ordnance he carried. Parr had his hands full because of poor visibility, nearby friendly troops, and terrain that permitted only one possible run-in heading. The FAC was pleading for more than one pass. The second F-4 orbited overhead while Parr made two runs on the deck across well-armed enemy positions. He destroyed both mortar positions. On the second run, six heavily camouflaged 14.5mm heavy automatic weapons, five with quad mounts, opened up on Parr's F-4 with a well-placed and intense barrage. Parr disregarded the hits on his aircraft, and three times he refused the ground commander's entreaties to cancel the mission for personal safety, continuing to hit the area until all his ordnance was gone. During four napalm runs and four 20mm strafing passes, all on the same restricted run-in, he destroyed five of the automatic weapon emplacements and silenced the sixth, plus the two mortar positions. Visibility had diminished even more, but there was continued heavy small- arms fire from enemy troops just a few yards from the Khe Sanh airstrip. Parr knew it would be close to impossible for three aircraft to operate in this small area, so he asked the FAC pilot "to back off a bit" for safety in order to be able to personally select troop targets for the second F-4. That action opened the way for the C-130s to depart the beleaguered strip. Limping back to Cam Ranh Bay on barely adequate fuel, Parr brought the flight home. The mission had broken the anti-aircraft blockade at Khe Sanh. Word was out within a very short time that the FAC had recommended that Parr be officially recognized for the mission. The FAC pilot stated that he and the Marine battalion commander had never seen such aggressiveness and courage by a pilot under continual, intense enemy fire.
Parr was back in Vietnam within two years. This time he was commander of the 12th Wing, which had relocated to Phu Cat. Under his leadership, the wing suffered only one loss in combat while he flew 201 more combat missions in F-4Ds. That brought his three-war total to 641 missions, along with more than 60 American and foreign decorations--and almost 9,000 hours of fighter time.