Four members of the Gambell First Scouts were seal fishing in June of 1955 when a Navy plane crash-landed after taking fire from Soviet jets. Along with several others, they rescued the injured air crew and used umiaks to get them safely to Gambell.
Part of the Lockheed P2V-5 Neptune wreckage still remains in Gambell.
“The landing was as beautiful as you could imagine, with the notable exception that, because we had no wheels and there were a lot of boulders and rocks on shore, they ruptured the center tank,” Assad said.“As the plane decelerated, the fireball didn’t, and it rolled forward and burned everybody,” Assard said.June Walunga, daughter of one of the National Guard members who responded to the crash, remembers being in Gambell and watching the plane come down.
Staff Sgt. Clifford Iknokinok and three other members of the Gambell First Scout Battalion were seal hunting nearby and made their way to the crash site despite the Soviet fighters continuing to circle overhead. Upon realizing that they didn’t have the necessary equipment to help the air crew, Iknokinok set off for Gambell to gather additional assistance. Before he made it to Gambell, though, he ran into several of his fellow National Guard members, who were already on their way to help.
After arriving in Gambell, the crew’s injuries were treated. A team from Elmendorf Air Force Base retrieved them two days later. Bowen says it was only due to the quick action of the Gambell First Scouts that all 11 members of the air crew survived.
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