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    Smith - Gordon H

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    Larry Feldhaus
    (1) During the mid-1960s, Gordon Smith became a recognized expert in search and rescue tactics as a pilot in Vietnam. He led 23 rescue attempts, successfully extracting 11 pilots, including one in which he homed in on a downed pilot's cigarette lighter and directed the helicopter to pick-up the pilot with only 5 minutes of fuel remaining. (2) Gordon Smith served in the US Navy from 1945 to 1979, retiring as a Rear Admiral. He had over 6,000 hours of flight time, including combat tours in Korea and Vietnam where he flew over 200 missions. (3) Smith held several leadership roles throughout his career, including commanding VA-152 and serving as the Vice Commander of the Naval Electronics System

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    Smith - Gordon H

    Uploaded by

    Larry Feldhaus
    336 views1 page
    (1) During the mid-1960s, Gordon Smith became a recognized expert in search and rescue tactics as a pilot in Vietnam. He led 23 rescue attempts, successfully extracting 11 pilots, including one in which he homed in on a downed pilot's cigarette lighter and directed the helicopter to pick-up the pilot with only 5 minutes of fuel remaining. (2) Gordon Smith served in the US Navy from 1945 to 1979, retiring as a Rear Admiral. He had over 6,000 hours of flight time, including combat tours in Korea and Vietnam where he flew over 200 missions. (3) Smith held several leadership roles throughout his career, including commanding VA-152 and serving as the Vice Commander of the Naval Electronics System

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    Admiral Gordon H. Smith Biography

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    Smith- Gordon H

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    (1) During the mid-1960s, Gordon Smith became a recognized expert in search and rescue tactics as a pilot in Vietnam. He led 23 rescue attempts, successfully extracting 11 pilots, including one in which he homed in on a downed pilot's cigarette lighter and directed the helicopter to pick-up the pilot with only 5 minutes of fuel remaining. (2) Gordon Smith served in the US Navy from 1945 to 1979, retiring as a Rear Admiral. He had over 6,000 hours of flight time, including combat tours in Korea and Vietnam where he flew over 200 missions. (3) Smith held several leadership roles throughout his career, including commanding VA-152 and serving as the Vice Commander of the Naval Electronics System

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    336 views1 page

    Smith - Gordon H

    Uploaded by

    Larry Feldhaus
    (1) During the mid-1960s, Gordon Smith became a recognized expert in search and rescue tactics as a pilot in Vietnam. He led 23 rescue attempts, successfully extracting 11 pilots, including one in which he homed in on a downed pilot's cigarette lighter and directed the helicopter to pick-up the pilot with only 5 minutes of fuel remaining. (2) Gordon Smith served in the US Navy from 1945 to 1979, retiring as a Rear Admiral. He had over 6,000 hours of flight time, including combat tours in Korea and Vietnam where he flew over 200 missions. (3) Smith held several leadership roles throughout his career, including commanding VA-152 and serving as the Vice Commander of the Naval Electronics System

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    of 1

    1996

    Gordon H. Smith, RADM, USN (Ret.)


    “Gordon” 6/58-5/60 Joint Staff, US Forces Korea. Chief. Special
    Intelligence Section.
    Date of Designation: 20 October 1948 7/60-6/62 US Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey,
    CA. Student.
    Dates of Active Duty: June 1945 - June 1979 10/62-8/64 VA-215, Operations Officer/XO (A1H).
    9/64-2/65 VA-122, Operations Officer (A1H).
    Total Flight Hours: 6,482 2/65-5/67 VA-152, XO/CO (A1H).
    5/67-2/68 COMNAVAIRPAC Staff, Assistant Weapons
    Carrier/Ship Landings: Fixed wing: 708 Officer.
    2/68-8/69 First Fleet Staff, Air Warfare Officer.
    Approximate Flight Hours: 6/70-5/74 OSD, DDR&E. Special Assistant/Director,
    Jet: 280 Prop: 6,200 VF/VA: 6,000 Research and Advanced Technology.
    5/74-4/76 Naval Electronics System Command,
    Combat Tours: REWSON Program Manager.
    Korea: VF-33, Aug. 1950-Jan. 1951 (F4U -38 missions. 4/76-6/79 Vice Commander, Naval Electronics System
    Vietnam: VA-152, Feb. 1965-Nov. 1965 (A1) -128 missions Command.
    Vietnam: VA-152, Apr. 1966-Nov. 1966 (A1) -78 missions 6/30/79 Retired from active duty.

    Aviation Commands:
    Summary of Significant Career Events
    CO, VA-152, February 1966 - April 1967
    (1) During the mid-1960’s, became a recognized expert in
    Combat Awards: search and rescue tactics and procedures in Southeast Asia.
    Silver Star Was on-scene commander for 23 rescue attempts in North
    Navy/Marine Corps Medal for Heroism Vietnam of which 11 resulted in successful extraction. Most
    4 Distinguished Flying Crosses noteworthy was a successful night rescue 17 miles from
    Bronze Star Hanoi in a heavily defended area. The downed airman had
    23 Air Medals no survival gear except a radio which would receive but not
    2 Navy Commendation Medals transmit. Finally homed in on the downed airman’s ciga-
    Purple Heart rette lighter and directed the helo to the pick-up while mak-
    ing runs with lights on to draw fire. Returned to the carrier
    Duty Assignment Chronology with less than 5 minutes of fuel remaining.

    12/48-6/51 VF-33, Line Officer/ Communications Officer


    (F8F, F4U).
    7/51-6/53 ATU-200, Flight Instructor/Schedules Officer
    (F8F).
    10/53-7/54 USS Gilbert Islands (AKV-39), Assistant CIC
    Officer.
    7/54-6/55 USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14), OI Division
    Officer.

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