part0044

A t 0530 hours, the flight ops clerk came around and woke everyone. We straggled into the mess hall. What the…? Steak and eggs! By 0645 hours, almost every aircraft was cranked and we were getting clearances. Fourteen aircraft were in the flight, and the other five were picking up normal missions. One aircraft was being loaded for laying down a smokescreen and would be with the formation initially but not carrying troops.

Over in the Snake Pit, most of Lobo’s aircraft were cranking up as well. As we departed, they were flying trail behind us and on our flanks. Fifteen Hueys and eight Cobras makes for an impressive formation. The Robin Hoods normally flew for the Twenty-Fifth Infantry Division, and they were cranking up in Sherwood Forest and departing also, but heading in a different direction. The runway at the SF camp at Chon Thanh came into view and Flight Leader set up the approach. Off to the side of the runway was a single aircraft, a speaker’s stand and a large covered display board. The aircraft was the battalion commander’s aircraft.

“Chicken-man Flight, this is Yellow One. Shut down and everyone assemble on Lightning Bolt Six.” This was getting stranger by the minute. As we climbed out of the aircraft, two more flights were landing behind us, Bravo Company and Charlie Company. This was going to be a battalion lift—a first for me. Then we saw CH-47s coming to land as well and more Cobras from Blue Max. There were forty-two UH-1H aircraft, ten CH-47 Chinooks and twenty-five Cobras. All were shutting down and converging on Lightning Bolt Six’s location. Once we were all assembled, the battalion commander stepped onto the speaker’s platform, which was a stand used for physical fitness training.

“Gentlemen, we are launching a battalion lift, a first for most of you. We will be picking up elements of the Third ARVN Airborne Brigade at these three locations throughout the day”—the cover was pulled up—“and inserting them in these three LZs in the Parrot’s Beak region. These forces are blocking forces for the elements of the Eleventh Armored Cavalry Regiment that’s moving north out of Loc Ninh to Snuol, Cambodia.” Holy shit! We were invading Cambodia!

“I will be controlling the operation from above and will provide all artillery clearances as well as providing navigation information to Flight Leader. My call sign will be Anger Two-Nine. Alpha flight lead will be Owner Two-Nine; Bravo flight lead will be Desire Two-Nine; Charlie lead will be Hang Two-Nine. Blue Max is Sword Six-Two and Lobo flight lead is Welder Two-Nine. Tenor Two-Nine is the brigade commander. Flight altitude will be low-level. Flight formation will be heavy left. The S-2 will now give you the enemy situation.”

The S-2 took the stand and placed a clear plastic cover over the map. Except it wasn’t really clear, as it was covered in red symbols that depicted known and suspected enemy positions. Some of those positions were along the routes I had flown with the Division G-2 a week or so ago.

“The enemy situation is as follows. At this location is the headquarters for the entire North Vietnamese Army in this region of Vietnam.” He pointed at the map. Damn, that’s where I was flying at eight thousand, tossing leaflets out on that psyops mission. “In this area is the Seventh NVA division with the Fifty-Sixth Anti-Aircraft Battalion. The Seventh has three regiments: the 209th south of Snuol; the 165th here”—he pointed at a position on the map—“and the 141st Regiment in this area.” Great, that was where we were going. “The antiaircraft situation is that the Seventh is organized with twelve 12.7 mm antiaircraft guns, fifteen multibarrel 23 mm guns that we know about, and six radar-controlled 37 mm guns. The Fiftieth Rear Service Group is the largest unit in the region, with multiple cache sites and several hospitals of five hundred beds each. Weather for today is clear blue and twenty-two. Any questions?” A long pause. “If there are no questions, that’s all I have, sir.” And he turned the briefing back over to the battalion commander.

“Gentlemen, this operation is code name Operation Toan Thang 43. 11 The sequence of events is as follows: At zero six thirty, Charlie Company picked up a rifle company of the ARVN Airborne Brigade at Quan Loi and inserted them in this area to secure artillery that was inserted to support the insertions. The first assault will depart here and fly to this PZ. Load at zero nine fifty-five hours. Depart PZ1 at ten hundred hours for a twelve-minute flight to LZ Center, located here,” he said, pointing at the map. “We will then break into three company flights to refuel, with Alpha refueling at LZ Jake; Bravo refueling at Loc Ninh; and Charlie refueling at Quan Loi. Upon refueling, Alpha and Bravo will join Charlie at Quan Loi and pick up troops for the second lift, inserting into LZ Right, located here.” Again he pointed at the map.

“Everyone will return to Quan Loi to refuel, and we will pick up the third lift and insert them at this location. After the third lift, Bravo will be in direct support for Task Force Shoemaker here at Quan Loi. Charlie and Alpha will resume normal daily commitments. Alpha will lead the first insertion, Bravo the second insertion and Charlie the last insertion. Are there any questions?” There were no questions. “There are obviously going to be changes throughout the day that we’re going to have to respond to, so be flexible. Owner Two-Nine is flight lead and Yellow One for this first operation. Are there any questions?” There were none. “Okay, let’s do this.”

We all returned to our aircraft and got ready. To say the least, we were very proud that our company commander was going to be flight leader for this first operation. Mr. Fairweather again drew the lucky straw to be my copilot for the day. I was glad I had him, as he had proven to be a very stable copilot and he always had cigarettes, a fresh pack even. This was going to be something. Just the sound of this many aircraft was awesome. The liftoff with so many aircraft took longer than any I had done before.

The sky was clear and cloudless. There was no haze from forest fires. It was going to be a beautiful day with low temperatures, at least for Vietnam. We were proceeding northwest by the compass when the pickup zone came into view. I hadn’t seen so many troops lined up in one location before. Ground guides were out for each aircraft.

As we touched down, the Vietnamese airborne soldiers were almost immediately on board and they were all smiles. They knew where they were going and what they were about to do, and for the first time since I had come to this place, I saw genuine enthusiasm on their faces. They were ready.

“Owner Yellow One is on the go,” the flight leader called out. As we climbed to altitude for low-level, flight leader kept the airspeed back to sixty knots initially but, with a call from the last aircraft, increased our speed to ninety knots. The flight was treetop level, ninety knots and closed up tightly with one-rotor-blade separation. The battalion commander was in the C&C aircraft at about three thousand feet above, giving navigation guidance and controlling artillery fire on the LZ when it was time. I had a light touch on the cyclic and was glued to watching Yellow One.

“Owner Yellow One is Tango,” he called out as he crossed the border into Cambodia. Minus the bomb craters that pockmarked Vietnam, it looked pretty much the same. That changed as we flew across a dirt road just over the border. It was perpendicular to our flight path and as straight as an arrow. As far as I could see out my side window, there were NVA soldiers walking down both sides of the road, heading northeast with their weapons over their shoulders. I was sure they were surprised as hell to see and hear this thunderous display of aviation might. They didn’t shoot at us. Our LZ was located in a large open dried-up rice paddy south of the town of Snuol. As in all operations, artillery impacted prior to our landing but was of shorter duration. The lack of artillery support was made up for by Blue Max releasing all their rockets with pinpoint accuracy. For the first time, our smoke aircraft proceeded us and laid a smokescreen over the tree line once the Cobras had laid in their rockets. Before we even touched the ground, the Vietnamese grunts were out of the aircraft and pushing to the tree line.

“Owner Yellow One is on the go” was heard probably before the last aircraft was over the LZ, but there was no need for empty aircraft to be sitting. As we came out, Grandpa took the controls. There were no calls of anyone taking fire.

“Okay, heads up back there. We’ve got gooks on that road and we have to cross that thing again. They’ll be waiting for us.” Evidently someone had thought about this already, as Lobo moved out ahead of the flight slightly and began hitting the edges of the road at the appropriate time. As we rolled over, we could see the effect of Lobo’s work. Besides broken bodies lying in the road, a hornet’s nest of fire came up and greeted us. Without saying a word, Lovelace and Peters opened fire. Just as fast as we came upon the road, we were gone and breathing easy. No one reported any hits. Refueling before the next lift took some time, and as an aircraft would complete refueling, it would move off and shut down until all aircraft were refueled. We then proceeded to a new PZ and repeated the process again, with equal results, into a new LZ. There would be a third lift for the day as briefed.

On the way back to the Chicken Pen that evening, the CO, flying Yellow One, took us over Lai Khe in formation at five hundred feet. As we reached the end of the runway, we changed formation and came up trail, circling back into a downwind leg, base to final leg, and finally turning onto final. Our transition from staggered right to trail was as sharp as any flying in a precision performance. We were showing off. The formation reflected the pride of the unit. The runway was lined with ground crews watching the demonstration. As we pulled into individual revetments, someone from maintenance guided us in, waiting to see what work needed to be done. The maintenance platoon was ready to work all night to get the aircraft back in the air, fully expecting to find multiple bullet holes in each aircraft. There were none! The operation had been a complete surprise from our standpoint. As crews finished post-flight inspections on the aircraft and began walking back to Flight Ops, high fives were exchanged. We felt like, for once, we had really taken the fight to the NVA.