Hobby Master Archive

The 481st TFS Crusaders arrived at Tan Son Nhut on June 21, 1965 and began flying combat missions in South Vietnam the same day. The 481st TFS flew an average of 30 sorties a day and by November 27, 1965 when they left for home at Canon AFB they had flown 3,600 sorties and had a total of 5,025 combat flying hours. One of the 481st TFS F-100D was 56-3285 flown by 1st Lt Peter Vanderhoef and 1st Lt Jerry Sloame. The aircraft was named “Pretty Penny” after Sloame’s wife.