PITMAN, PETER POTTER

Name: Peter Potter Pitman
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit:
Date of Birth: 15 February 1938
Home City of Record: Atlanta GA
Date of Loss: 12 May 1967
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 175200N 1062600E (WF440269)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 4
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F105F
Refno: 0681

Other Personnel In Incident: Robert A. Stewart (missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 from one or more
of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: Capt. Peter P. Pitman and Maj. Robert A. Stewart comprised the
two-man crew on an F105F Thunderchief fighter bomber aircraft that was shot
down in North Vietnam on May 12, 1967. [Both men are coded as pilots, so it
is not possible to determine who was actually the pilot on this mission.]
The last known location of the plane and crew is very near the city of Ron
in Quang Binh Province, North Vietnam. Both men were listed by the Air Force
as missing in action. The Vietnamese deny any knowledge of their fates.

An excellent description of the capability of the F105 and its pilots is
found in "Vietnam Voices". A flight of F105s is described by British
Consul-General John Colvin in Hanoi, 1967. "As we stood there, seven or
eight United States F105 Thunderchief fighter bombers, flying at scarcely
more than roof-top height and no more, it seemed, than 100 yards away, shot
across our vision at what appeared - so tight was the space in which the
whole incident was framed between houses and sky - enormous speed. They had
come on us suddenly out of nowhere, the hard, gray, sleek aircraft, in
superb formation at approximately 600 mph... As they had hurtled past us, so
close it seemed we could almost touch them or call to the pilots, we had
seen the rockets fired from the pods under their wings. Almost
simultaneously, such lights as were on in the apartment went out, the fan
stopped turning, and a column of dust, smoke and flame rose from the
direction of the power station..(leaving)..fists.. shaken at the sky (and)
little groups of civilians whispering. (The planes had penetrated the city's
defenses by coming in under radar, and the first antiaircraft batteries
opened up not only after the raiders were about 20 miles away.)

Pitman and Stewart were skilled pilots, and dedicated to their jobs. It is
not known if they survived or died. The Vietnamese probably know what
happened to them, but they are not saying. Since the end of the war, the
U.S. has received thousands of reports of Americans alive in the hands of
the Vietnamese. Peter Pitman and Robert Stewart could be among them. It's
time we brought them home.

Peter P. Pitman was promoted to the rank of Major and Robert A. Stewart to
the rank of Colonel during the period they were maintained missing.