Friday, May 12, 1972
Air Force Study Tells Saga Of Downed Fliers
MIAMI (AP) --A study of some 200 American airmen rescued after they were shot down in Southeast Asia shows the majority reacted logically to the stress situations.Dr. Anchard F. Zeller, an Air Force research scientist from Norton Air Force Base, Calif., said the responses of the downed fliers "ranged from optimism to sheer panic."Zeller addressed the Aerospace Medical Association convention in Miami on Tuesday.The 200 fliers studied ranked from enlisted men to colonels, and 134 of them carried out precise, logical efforts to help rescuers, Zeller said.Sixty-six showed abnormal reactions including deep depression and panic. Some yelled "into their microphones, berating the rescue forces for real and imagined ineptness," he said.Very few of the downed airmen showed much concern for food or water, Zeller said, and only four reported that they took time out to pray."But there were two fliers who just had to have a cigarette," he added.Zeller said nearly all the airmen reported great discomfort from insect bites.He said six of the 200 men were spotted by enemy forces and managed to escape, and two came face to face with the enemy and escaped.The fliers escaped from their damaged aircraft in a number of ways. Some used ejection seats and others walked out on the wing and jumped, Zeller said.Twelve of the 200 came down in trees and had to be rescued as they dangled from the branches in their parachute harnesses, he said.One man was doubly lucky -or cursed, depending how you look at it, Zeller said.He was shot down, picked up, shot down and started all over again."Air Force Study Tells Saga of Downed Fliers", by (AP), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes on Friday, May 12, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.