Name: George Lawrence Hubler
Rank/Branch: O3/US Marine Corps
Unit: VMFA 235, MAG 11
Date of Birth: 06 September 1942
Home City of Record: Moab VT
Date of Loss: 23 February 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 155908N 1082227E (BT190690)
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. The aircraft 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.
Capt. George L. Hubler was the pilot of an F8E conducting a non-combat flight off the coast of South Vietnam's Quang Nam province near Da Nang on February 23, 1968. According to U.S. Marine Corps records, Hubler's aircraft was involved in a mid-air collision and crashed at sea. There are no other individuals missing at this location on February 23, 1968, so it is assumed that all others were rescued or recovered.
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.
