Rank/Branch: 04/US Navy
Unit: Attack Squardron 192, Uss Ticonderoga (CVA-14)
Date of Birth: 27 April 1931
Home City of Record: Turtle Creek, PA
Lost Date: 27 April 1967
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 204258N 1070257E (YH134919)
Status: (in 1973) Prisoner or War
Catagory: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: A4E
Other Personnel in Incident: (None)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 May 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data fromU. S. Government Agency Sources, Correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews, Network April 1997
Remarks:
Synopsis: The USS Ticonderoga (CVA 14) was first in Vietnam waters late 1944 when fighter planes from the Ticonderoga and the USS Hancock flew strike missions against enemy vessels in Saigon Harbor. The Ticonderoga, the fourteenth U.S. aircraft carrier to be built, was on station during the very early years of the Vietnam war and remained throughout most of the duration of the war.
The "World Famous Golden Dragons" of attack squadron 192 returned to the waters off North Vietnam in November 1966, their third combat deployment and a cruise that would prove to be both intense and noteworthy.
LTCDR Michael J. Estocin was an A4E Skyhawk pilot and the operations officer of Attack Squadron ONE NINE TWO, onboard the USS Ticonderoga. On March 11, 1967, Estocin was the lead pilot of a three-plane group in support of a coordinated strike against two thermal power plants in Haiphong. Estocin was to fly SHRIKE, which considered among the toughest of the war. He was one of six SHRIKE pilots in the squadron on this, his second tour of Vietnam. The previous month, the executive officer of the squadron, CDR Ernest M. "Mel" Moore, had been hit on a SHRIKE mission and had been captured by the North Vietnamese.
The SHRIKE pilot's job was to fly ahead of the strike group by five to seven minutes literally trying to draw fire from the surface-to-air missle emplacements. When the ground radar found the SHRIKE, the pilot would fire anti-radar missles at SAM sites. The goal was either to actually knock the SAM radar out or, as was sometimes the case, to force the North Vietnamese to turn off the radar, enabling the alpha strike force behind the SHRIKE aircraft to fly on and off their targets without SAMs launched against them. The more SAMs that were fired at the SHRIKES meant fewer fired at the formations, which had to stay together to complete their part of the mission.
During the operation, Estocin provided warnings to the strike group leaders of the SAM threats, and personally neutralized three SAM sites. Although Estocin's aircraft was severely damaged by an exploding missle, he reentered the target area and prosecuted a SHRIKE attack amidst anti-aircraft fire. He left the target area when he had less than five minutes of fuel remaining. Estocin refueled during his return to the ship.
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