Captain Ed Morton climbed into the rear seat of the F-4 fighter. Ed was already an experienced backseater having completed over 40 missions in the South and at least as bomber cover over North Vietnam. In front seat was Jim White, an experience flyer but a new pilot in the 4th squadron of the 366th Fighter Wing. His mission that day was in the second F-4E of the flight of Gun Fighters sent to respond to friendly forces in need of ground support. Their target was about 50 kilometers south of DaNang in Quang Tri province.
Ed was sitting on top of the world. After seven long years of a deferred dream of being a pilot in a fast and furious jet, he was finally doing what he had pined for as a young boy who built model airplanes and idolized his uncle Bill - a bombardier in WW II.
That day, August 3, 1969, was just four days short of Ed’s 33rd birthday and was the fourth birthday of his son James Edward “Jamey” III.
Ed had written home earlier in the week that a certain quiet seemed to have pervaded the war. He had hopes of taking a brief R&R to Thailand to get some decent food. It had been nearly nine years since his introduction to flight training in South Georgia and the realization that he would never be a fighter pilot. He settled for his already acquired rating as a navigator and his hard work finally resulted in his selection to sit back seat as the weapons operator and de-facto co-pilot in America’s state of the art fighter F-4 Phantom.
That day, while breaking in a new pilot, Ed was in control of the weapons systems, as they were directed to their target by a nimble forward air controller. As they rolled in to deliver the needed ordnance, a very effective North Vietnam “ zipper” anti-aircraft zeroed in on the pair of Gun Fighters and made a deadly hit on Ed and Jim White’s plane shortly after successfully releasing their bombs. Their plane went straight into the ground. There were no emergency beepers and no chutes. The bodies of both crewmen were recovered that same day.
This was the conclusion to an-all-too brief career for Captain James Edward Morton. This is the story, written by his brother, which covers the events leading Ed to that final mission.
Ed was sitting on top of the world. After seven long years of a deferred dream of being a pilot in a fast and furious jet, he was finally doing what he had pined for as a young boy who built model airplanes and idolized his uncle Bill - a bombardier in WW II.
That day, August 3, 1969, was just four days short of Ed’s 33rd birthday and was the fourth birthday of his son James Edward “Jamey” III.
Ed had written home earlier in the week that a certain quiet seemed to have pervaded the war. He had hopes of taking a brief R&R to Thailand to get some decent food. It had been nearly nine years since his introduction to flight training in South Georgia and the realization that he would never be a fighter pilot. He settled for his already acquired rating as a navigator and his hard work finally resulted in his selection to sit back seat as the weapons operator and de-facto co-pilot in America’s state of the art fighter F-4 Phantom.
That day, while breaking in a new pilot, Ed was in control of the weapons systems, as they were directed to their target by a nimble forward air controller. As they rolled in to deliver the needed ordnance, a very effective North Vietnam “ zipper” anti-aircraft zeroed in on the pair of Gun Fighters and made a deadly hit on Ed and Jim White’s plane shortly after successfully releasing their bombs. Their plane went straight into the ground. There were no emergency beepers and no chutes. The bodies of both crewmen were recovered that same day.
This was the conclusion to an-all-too brief career for Captain James Edward Morton. This is the story, written by his brother, which covers the events leading Ed to that final mission.
