ADOPTED POW/MIA

Name: Geoffrey Holmes Osborn
Rank/Branch: O2/US Navy
Unit:
Date of Birth: 17 December 1939
Home City of Record: Winter Park FL
Date of Loss: 24 September 1965
Country of Loss: South Vietnam/Over Water
Loss Coordinates: 185937N 1073644E (YG750020)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 5
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F8E

Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 April 1990 from one or more
of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: The Vought F8 "Crusader" saw action early in U.S. involvement
in Southeast Asia. Its fighter models participated both in the first Gulf of
Tonkin reprisal in August 1964 and in the myriad attacks against North Vietnam
during Operation Rolling Thunder. The Crusader was used exclusively by the Navy and Marine air wings (although there is one U.S. Air Force pilot reported shot down on an F8) and represented half or more of the carrier fighters in the Gulf of Tonkin during the first four years of the war. Theaircraft was credited with nearly 53% of MiG kills in Vietnam.

The most frequently used fighter versions of the Crusader in Vietnam were
the C, D, and E models although the H and J were also used. The Charlie
carried only Sidewinders on fuselage racks, and were assigned such
missions as CAP (Combat Air Patrol), flying at higher altitudes. The Echo
model had a heavier reinforced wing able to carry extra Sidewinders or
bombs, and were used to attack ground targets, giving it increased
vulnerability. The Echo version launched with less fuel, to accommodate
the larger bomb store, and frequently arrived back at ship low on fuel.
The RF models were equipped for photo reconnaissance.

The combat attrition rate of the Crusader was comparable to similar
fighters. Between 1964 to 1972, eighty-three Crusaders were either lost or
destroyed by enemy fire. Another 109 required major rebuilding. 145 Crusader pilots
were recovered; 57 were not. Twenty of these pilots were captured and
released. The other 43 remained missing at the end of the war.

Lt. JG Geoffrey H. Osborn was the pilot of an F8E conducting a flight
over the Gulf of Tonkin on September 24, 1965. At a point about 70 miles from HaiNan Island, Osborn's aircraft crashed. Little hope was held out for his survival and he was declared Killed/Body Not Recovered. Osborn's loss is listed as a non-hostile casualty.

Since the war ended, nearly 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing,
prisoner or unaccounted for in Southeast Asia have been received by the
U.S. Government. Many authorities who have examined this largely classified information are convinced that hundreds of Americans are still held captive today. Fighter pilots in Vietnam were called upon to fly in many
dangerous circumstances, and were prepared to be wounded, killed, or captured. It probably never occurred to them that they could be abandoned by the country they proudly served.