Vikings at Hato, Curacao, Dutch Caribbean, 159746 is seen here with markings of VS-32 during what turned out to be the last ever Viking deployment AIRH
A haunting moment frozen in time... a USAF F-105D Thunderchief trailing fire and smoke just moments after being struck by an SA-2 Guideline missile south of Hanoi on 14 February 1968.
The aircraft — serial number 60-0418, from the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 388th Tactical Fighter Wing — was on a mission about 23 kilometres south of Hanoi when the missile detonated nearby.
The SA-2 didn't actually hit the aircraft directly... its warhead was designed to explode by radar command or proximity fuse, scattering a storm of lethal fragments across a wide area.
The pilot, Major Robert Malcolm Elliot (1929–1968), was killed in the incident. His remains were not recovered until 1998, three decades later.