This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
to remember
Schoeppner, Leonard John (Chops), LT.
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This Sailor has an (IMO) Memory Of Headstone in Courts of the Missing, Honolulu, Hawaii
LT Leonard J. Schoeppner and LTJG Rex L. Parcels Jr. were F4 pilots assigned to Fighter Squadron 21 onboard the USS RANGER. On March 9, 1970, the two were assigned a photo reconnaissance escort mission in their F4J Phantom. Schoeppner was the pilot and Parcels served as the Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) on the flight.
Schoeppner and Parcels launched at 1200 hours on that day. Their climbout and aerial refueling were normal. Because of low ceilings and poor visibility in the reconnaissance aircraft's target area, the escort mission was cancelled. Schoeppner's aircraft was diverted to their secondary mission assignment as combat air patrol for the Task Force. The reassignment occurred about one hour after their takeoff.
Schoeppner reported his position as overhead the RANGER in the Gulf of Tonkin at 17,000 feet. He was instructed to rendezvous with another squadron F4, but he failed to contact the newly assigned control agency for the required vector. Contact between Schoeppner's and Parcels' aircraft and the ship's search radar was also lost at about this time (1330).
A preliminary search was conducted, using aircraft already airborne in the vicinity of the carrier. With no success on this preliminary search, the assistance of other assets was utilized (seven destroyers, seven helicopters, four A7's, three OV10's, two HC130's, two E1's, one E2, one C1A, one C131, and one P3). A thorough and detailed coverage of this large area was attested to by a variety of non-pertinent floating debris recovered by the SAR force, including objects as small as an old life jacket.
A pilot from the HANCOCK reported that he had seen an F4-type aircraft in a dive at approximately 4,000 feet. All other F4 pilots airborne at this time stated that they had not engaged in such a maneuver. The diving aircraft was thought to possibly be that of Schoeppner and Parcels. With weather conditions as they were, they may have inadvertently entered a maneuver, such as a dive, which carried them to an altitude too low to effect a recovery after their condition was realized.
Vietnam War/Tet Counteroffensive Campaign (68)/ Yankee Station, North Vietnam
From Month/Year
January / 1968
To Month/Year
April / 1968
Description Yankee Station was a point in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam used by the U.S. Navy aircraft carriers of Task Force 77 to launch strikes in the Vietnam War. While its official designation was "Point Yankee," it was universally referred to as Yankee Station. Carriers conducting air operations at Yankee Station were said to be "on the line" and statistical summaries were based on days on the line.
The name derived from it being the geographic reference point "Y", pronounced "Yankee" in the NATO phonetic alphabet. In turn the term Point Yankee derived from the launch point for "Yankee Team" aerial reconnaissance missions over Laos conducted in 1964. It was located about 190 km due east of Dong Hoi, at 17° 30' N and 108° 30' E.
During the two periods of sustained air operations against North Vietnam (March 2, 1965-October 31, 1968 and March 30, 1972-December 29, 1972) there were normally three carriers on the line, each conducting air operations for twelve hours, then off for twelve hours. One of the carriers would operate from noon to midnight, another from midnight to noon, and one during daylight hours, which gave 24-hour coverage plus additional effort during daylight hours, when sorties were most effective. However at the end of May, 1972, six carriers were for a short period of time on the line at Yankee Station conducting Linebacker strikes.
The first aircraft carrier at Yankee Station was USS Kitty Hawk, which was ordered there in April 1964 for the Yankee Team missions. Kitty Hawk was joined by Ticonderoga in May and Constellation in June, two months prior to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Ticonderoga and Constellation launched the first bombing missions from Yankee Station on August 5, 1964. Constellation was also the last carrier conducting operations at Yankee Station on August 15, 1973. USS Forrestal suffered a major accident while at Yankee Station when a series of fires and explosions on her deck killed 134 men and injured another 161.
A corresponding Dixie Station in the South China Sea off the Mekong Delta was a single carrier point for conducting strikes within South Vietnam from May 15, 1965 to August 3, 1966.
