Neil Armstrong parachute was blown back over land. A jeep driven by a roommate from flight school picked him up; it is unknown what happened to the wreckage of his aircraft, F9F-2 BuNo "125122". In all, Armstrong flew 78 missions over Korea for a total of 121 hours in the air, a third of them in January 1952, with the final mission on March 5, 1952. Of 492 U.S. Navy personnel killed in the Korean War, 27 of them were from the "Essex" on this war cruise. Armstrong received the Air Medal for 20 combat missions, two gold stars for the next
Spence M. Armstrong Force Base. After two years in flight test, Armstrong prepared for a combat tour in Southeast Asia by completing F-105 combat crew training at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas. He was assigned to the 34th Fighter Squadron based at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand where he flew 100 combat missions in the F-105. In July 1968, Armstrong returned to flight test as an instructor and later as the deputy commandant at the Aerospace Research Pilot School. In August 1971, Armstrong attended the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama and graduated in May 1972. After a