OCT 10-13

FORT WALTON BEACH, FL

THURSDAY SATURDAY NIGHT BANQUET

w Early Bird Social w Social Hour 1730-1900
FRIDAY GOLF w Guest Speaker: LtGen Eric Fiel
at Gator Lakes FRIDAY w Air Commando Hall of
w Golf Tournament Fame Presentations
Hurlburt Field w 5K Fun Run/Walk w AFSOC Commander’s
w Fish Fry Leadership Awards
w Entertainment
SATURDAY
Rooms available at the w Professional Seminar/ BANQUET DINNER
Quality Inn located in Fort Business Meeting Breakfast Caribbean dish of Smoked Brined Pork Loin
Walton Beach at a special w Banquet with a Mango Chutney and Jerk Style Chicken
with Romaine Lettuce Salad, Savory Roasted
rate for Air Commandos. Vegetables paired with Garlic Infused Whipped
Call 850-275-0300 to reserve
SUNDAY Potatoes, served with fresh rolls, iced tea, and
by Sept 1, 2013. New York cheesecake with Strawberry topping.
w ACA Open House
w Memorial Service RSVP by Oct 1, 2013
Register online at w BBQ Dress for Active Duty military is Service Dress
www.aircommando.org
or call 850-581-0099
Email: [email protected]

www.AirCommando.org
Air Commando JOURNAL Summer 2013
Vol. 2, Issue 3

9
Historical Reflections
On the beginning of an Air Commando Theory

14
Operation Hawkeye The 16th SOS adjusts to its new home. (Photo courtesy

28
of Col Sean Farrell)

Irregular Warfare 20
Then and Now Moving a Squadron Garrison
While Engaged in Combat
37
Reflections of an
Air Commando
4
40 Chindit Chatter: Editorial
Mission To Haiti 7
42 Hotwash: Letters & Comments

Piston STOL and SOF 24

Long Hard Successful Day

17
ON THE John Grove - A Legend

COVER 50
Book Reviews
Any Time 51
Any Place Reunions
Photo courtesy of USAF

www.aircommando.org Summer 2013 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │ 3

 Chindit chatter

I
n October it will be 12 years running America has been at war. Throughout, Special Operations
has led the way. And some of the first in (and still there) were warriors from AFSOC. There is no
more heavily deployed command in the Air Force than AFSOC. And it naturally follows there
are no more heavily tasked units in the nation than some of AFSOC’s squadrons. Members with more
than 20 deployments are not unusual. True to the “Silent Professional” creed, neither the nation, nor
anyone outside the inner circle of AFSOC and its many satisfied customers, have heard a lot about their
accomplishments. There have been many and these accomplishments have had a profound impact on the
outcome of innumerable operations. These proud men and women have
gone about doing the nation’s business with total professional aplomb.
This edition of the ACJ is dedicated to these American heroes and their
families that have given so much at such a high price. A signifcant
number of AFSOC warriors have paid the supreme sacrifice and have
been wounded in action since 9/11. These are the visible tolls. The
less visible are the impacts that these losses and injuries have had on
innumerable Air Commando families.
In this edition there are some great renditions of Air Commando
achievements and the makeup of the Air Commando Ethos. We
also have a great article highlighting one of the most altruistic Air
Commandos of all time, Major John Grove. He gave a lot and if he
were alive today, he would still be finding ways to assist those that
have needs greater than his. Indeed, he would be proud that the Air
Commando Association has evolved into an organization that has as
one of its basic tenets “Helping Air Commandos and their families,
past, present, and future.” ACA has been honored to assist many of our warriors and their families in
times of unmet needs. Unfortunately, those needs have been many and will continue for the foreseeable
future. ACA, through our Foundation, is partnering with our generous membership, the US Special
Operations Command Care Coalition, and others, to raise funds to continue to honor those that have
needs greater than our own….just as John Grove would have wanted. As you enjoy this edition of ACJ,
we ask all to reflect on the tremendous sacrifices that Air Commandos and their families have faced
quietly doing the Nation’s bidding since WWII. Any time….Any place.

Dennis Barnett, Col, USAF (Ret)

ACA Vice President and Editor In Chief

4 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │Summer 2013 www.aircommando.org

 Air Commando ACA Corporate
Partners
JOURNAL Assisting ACA in our mission to support Air Commandos and
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Air Commando Association Board of Directors
Maj Gen (Ret) Richard Secord, President First Command Financial Services, Inc.
Col (Ret) Dennis Barnett, Vice President FLIR
Col (Ret) Paul Harmon, Treasurer
Grey Aviation
CMSAF #9 (Ret) James Binnicker, Director
Col (Ret) Thomas Bradley, Director L-3 Crestview Aerospace
Maj (Ret) David Freeman, Director L-3 Mission Integration
Maj Gen (Ret) Clay McCutchan, Director
Lockheed Martin
Col (Ret) David Mobley, Director
SMSgt (Ret) Pete Riley, Director MacAulay-Brown, Inc.
Lt Gen (Ret) Michael Wooley, Director Operation Hawkeye
CMSgt (Ret) Micheal Wright, Director
Pioneer Technologies Corporation
Policy/Financial Advisor to ACA QinetiQ North America, Inc.
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Chairman, Gulf Alliance Company
Rockwell Collins
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Air Commando Association

P.O. Box 7, Mary Esther, FL 32569
Telephone: (850) 581-0099
Fax: (850) 581-8988

Web Site: www.aircommando.org

Email: [email protected]

This publication is for the information, interest, and enjoyment of our

readers. Views and opinions expressed are of the author or source of
material and do not necessarily reflect opinions, views, or endorsements
of the ACA. Material in the Air Commando Journal may be reproduced
provided the source is credited. Air Commando Journal is not sponsored
by DoD, USAF or AFSOC.

ACA does not endorse any particular candidate or political action group.
Individual members are asked to restrain from inferring or stating any
such association of the ACA in their dealings with these type groups.

www.aircommando.org Summer 2013 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │ 5

H otwash
Simply Spectacular! Beach. You did an outstanding job on lineage of the Pred/Reaper goes to the
Just finished the last page of the the latest edition of the ACJ - just love Firebee ‘drone’ because of where the
Journal dedicated to Pave Lows and reading the stories from the luminaries pilot sits. I’d argue that, if you look
admit my irritation/disappointment that of the Pave community - I don’t know at effects rather than cosmetics, Pred/
there is not more to read. No doubt will why I was included, I am not of their ilk. Reaper is the ultimate validation of
get the book. As you may imagine, the appearance Col Terry’s vision - persistent sensor-
You...your Team hit this fastball so of my article in the latest ACJ has shooter loops that get deep into the
far that it cannot be bested...tho I know sparked a few requests for copies from enemy’s logistics and almost ‘hold’
you will try. my family. May I please order 6 copies small amounts of ground from the air.
ACA may have been a terrific of the Pave issue? If so, please let me Persistence allows us to go from ‘hitting
organization remembering the incredible know and I will reimburse you for your DMPIs’ to ‘holding the best acre of the
history of Air Force Special Operators costs incurred. war’ from the air through observation
principally during the Vietnam time... Steve Kelly and fields of fire. So, what’s happening
BUT now it fully embraces the breadth on emerging fronts comes from Col
of history of this most important Steve, Terry’s vision in two ways - both on
Command and more importantly, the You sell yourself short, that was the theory side with persistence, and on
INCREDIBLE AIRMEN who are a great article and added much to the the practical side as the lineage of the
the human and heroic soul of this success of the edition. Again, many sensors on the Pred/Reaper are parallel
organization. thanks! with Gunship sensors. Therefore, the
CONGRATULATIONS. WOW!! Dennis Barnett, Editor success of manned and remote Tactical
ISR/Strike platforms of today are a
Warm Regards, Paul Hester Persistence and Gunships strategic vindication of the Gunship and
The series of recent Gunship FAC communities of Vietnam.
Must Read articles have been truly fascinating. As I feel personally deeply indebted
Honestly, if you’ve not read the Admiral McRaven argues in his book, to these pioneers, who fought for
ACA quarterly publication, you’re SpecOps, one of SOF’s best resources these remarkable aircraft. Sneers from
missing out. I’d seen a couple of the for understanding the future are the doubters turned to respect as these ‘slow,
articles previously but downloaded it truly humbling acts of those who came ugly’ planes built combat records that
and read it cover to cover yesterday... before us. As Air Commandos, there is spoke for themselves. My hope is that
again, a must read. It’s amazing to see much that the past can teach us about the we can follow in those footsteps with
what Col (Ret) Barnett and the rest of present and the future. our own motley craft, and prove once
the ACA community have done with I was fascinated learning about Col again that devastating combat effects
this magazine. It combines our history, Terry’s story when I was going through trump prestige and privilege.
legacy, and offers particular insights the Gunship schoolhouse, and I believe
from those there ... at the tip of the spear that the pylon turn, and the persistence it Maj Dave Blair
when it counted. Our AFSOC reputation embodies, has always held the potential
has been built one mission at a time... to fundamentally transform airpower. Dear Col Barnett,
anytime...any place... so proud of what We spend so much time and effort to ACA member Michael Haas
the ACA has achieved in this publication drop an IADS, but a very few platforms writing to you from Reno, NV, to
and in it’s every day contribution to our really have the ability to leverage that express my appreciation not only for
community. Hooyah!!! airspace control fully into decisive the fine magazine ACA publishes but
massed effects. There were three for the high quality of staffers needed to
Col (Ret) Ioannis Koskinas key lessons to be taken from Desert
Storm - Smart Bombs, Stealth, and the Advertisers in this issue:
Gianni, Battle of al-Khafji. Unfortunately, we
Thanks for the too-kind words. only learned the first two. But three ACA Endowment Foundation.................8
We have a great group of volunteer airplanes destroying a ground division Black Diamond.....................................50
contributing editors, and Jeanette is something entirely beyond CAS - this Blanchard Family Wines .....................33
Moore is phenomenal at designing the is vertical dominance, and it is a vision
Lockheed Martin....................................6
magazine. that we still have yet to realize as an Air
Dennis Barnett, Editor Force. I’d argue the story of persistence Operation Hawkeye..............................16
goes from Ho Chi Minh trail, thru ScottEventPhoto.....................................5
Hi Jeanette, al-Khafji and to the emerging SOF/ISR SSAI ......................................................32
I hope you are doing well and air campaigns of today.
Special Operations Warrior Foundation .26
enjoying a pleasant spring in Ft Walton Many currently argue that the

www.aircommando.org Summer 2013 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │ 7

produce such a fine result. And in reading the Air Commando of the aircraft, and a gunner from mid-section, going back to
Journal and in particular some of your historical articles I’m the extreme rear to solve a hung flare jam? Good question, and
reminded that I too have been fortunate to have had published a no comment. What happens in Spcl Ops msns aboard the plane,
number of Air Commando stories (Going back to WWII in book provided the msn is well accomplished and more so, is moot
and magazine length articles. So! If perhaps you are looking and stays on the plane except for briefing COs - in this case at
for contributing writers or have specific subjects you wish Flight, 17th SOSq, and 14th SOWg levels. Up the line, all were
researched thence written in story form, I would be pleased if true warriors and grand gentlemen.)
you would keep me mind. It would be my pleasure and honor My first DFC was awarded for a sustained 11-hr msn in
to return to the Air Commandos a measure of my appreciation remote I Corps, flown from Nha Trang - refueling/rearming
of my time with them, in this manner. twice at DaNang, 11-12 May 69. Later on, for work on the
ground near Tuy Hoa, received a BSM. Our specialties were
Sincerely, extended loiter time in the “Deep Dark,” hi-accuracy firepower
Col (Ret) Michael Haas, delivered from extreme low-altitude, hi-intensity flares, and our
USAF, Reno, NV unique 1.5 mil-candlepower spotlight on the enemy -- all pre-
GPS navigation, sans any airborne radar in the G-models nor
Editor Barnett - Sir: any video link in either the G or K, but withering fire provided
What a terrific Journal. It’s proven now, and all professional on the crew’s judgment in closest coordination with on-ground
- the best pub by any Armed Forces combat active-duty & vets combat commanders in the bush.
organization in the US. I see/read them all.
A short bit more re “Shadow and Stinger,” per my letter William L. Withuhn, MA, MBA
in ACJ, Vol. 2, Issue 2: There’s a 4-min video (high-def) on Curator Emeritus, Smithsonian Institution
the website, www.dfcsociety.net<http://www.dfcsociety.net> ACA Life Member #3584, Burson, CA
re the AC-119. On that home page at the top, select “Media,”
then “Videos,” and from there scroll down to Video 2. It’s a Submissions can be e-mailed to [email protected] or mailed
combat incident involving my AC-119G driving off an NVA/ to Hot Wash c/o Air Commando Association, P.O. Box 7, Mary
VC attack from a firebase in II Corps, Vietnam, 17 Sept 69, Esther, FL 32569. ACA reserves the right to eliminate those that
despite a seriously “hung flare.” My air commando colleague, are not deemed appropriate. However, we will answer each and
TSgt Clayton Hedge, 17th SOSq, was also awarded a DFC for every input, whether it is placed in this column or not. Thank you in
that incident. (Why was a nav from a combat station at the front advance for your interest in the Air Commando Journal.

Providing assistance to wounded

warriors and their families.
Support the foundation donate online
at www.aircommando.org or
contact the Air Commando
Association at 850-581-0099

Email: [email protected]

The Air Commando Association Foundation Endowment is a fully tax deductible 501(c)(3).
All donations to the Foundation are 100% committed to providing assistance as all administrative
and other overhead costs are absorbed by the Air Commando Association (ACA).

8 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │Summer 2013 www.aircommando.org

By Patrick J. Charles
Upon arriving as the 352d Special Operations Group operations thrives.
historian, I was thrust into Air Commando history of World Those familiar with the history of the Air Commandos
War II. The history was both foreign and familiar. On the one know that on August 30, 1943, General Henry “Hap” Arnold
hand, I must admit, I knew very little, if anything, of the Air met with Colonels John R. Alison and Philip G. Cochran
Commandos before assuming my position. On the other, as for the creation of Project 9—what would later be known as
I began engulfed in the topic, the Air Commando approach the 1st Air Commando Group. To date, most historians have
to warfare was rather familiar. What do I mean here? As a attributed both the creation of the Air Commandos to British
veteran and historian, I am well aware of the military axiom General Orde C. Wingate. The reason for this is on August 17,
“adapt and overcome.” And as I began researching the theory 1943, at the Quebec Conference, Arnold and General George
behind Air Commando military operations it became clear that C. Marshall met with Wingate to discuss the latter’s Long
the approach not only embodies the maxims of adapting and Range Penetration Group (LRPG) theory, which called for the
overcoming, it seeks to build upon it. Perhaps to the casual placing of specialized troops behind enemy lines to disrupt
reader the phrase “any time, any place, anywhere” is just communications and sabotage rear installations. In the words
another military motto. It seemingly means the willingness of of Wingate, such a force would serve an “essential part of a
Air Commandos to commit to any fight, contingency or crisis. plan of conquest to create a situation leading to the advance of
However, to the World War II Air Commando and those that our main forces.”
have followed in their footsteps, it means much more and I maintain no qualms with the historical fact of Wingate’s
adequately reflects the military theory upon which special desire to advance his forces behind enemy lines provided

www.aircommando.org Summer 2013 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │ 9

 Anti-aircraft Gun at Broadway (Photo
courtesy of Patrick J. Charles)

Air Commandos Against Japan, writes it

was at this point that Kenney’s proposal
“disappeared into bureaucratic limbo,”
yet “planted the seeds of a special
USAAF commando unit.” I contend
that Y’Blood’s account is somewhat
misleading. Kenney’s proposal did not
just “plant the seed,” it was officially
approved. This is confirmed by a July
17, 1942 press release on the formation
of a new “Troop Carrier Command”
consisting of an “air commando force.”
Released by Arnold himself, both the
the ideal mission set to facilitate an idea on June 10, 1942, he admitted New York Times and Washington Post
Air Commando theory of operations. the “necessity for offensive air forces quoted the general as follows:
However, to state that Wingate’s LRPG which are capable of advancing by ‘fire “[T]his air-borne attack force does
theory influenced the Air Commando and movement’ has long presented a not give us an instantaneous or cheap
concept is historically problematic. More problem to me.” At that time the Army solution to our war problem. Its creation
than a year earlier, on May 18, 1942, Air Corps had devised “no effective way is calling for a stupendous effort. The
Major General George C. Kenney was of operating without being tied to the time when it will attain its full power is
the first to propose what would become concrete and fixed installations of core or still a long way off…Glider pilots and
an Air Commando theory of operations. lead permanent bases, a condition which air-borne combat troops will be in the
Commanding the Fourth Air Force at the effectively limits our ability to take forefront of attacks…The importance
time, Kenney wrote to Arnold a proposal advantage of the characteristic mobility of these swiftly moving combat
for an “Air Blitz Unit” consisting of a P-39 of our weapon.” And after studying teams cannot be overestimated. This
squadron, B-25 squadron, two transport Kenney’s proposal, Arnold pointed will be a self-contained force whose
squadrons, an airdrome defense unit, and out the problem of logistics. It was the soldiers, equipment and supplies are all
an aircraft warning unit. The “Air Blitz “greatest problem” because air transports transported by air. It will be able and
Unit” was intended to be self-contained alone could not provide the “essential trained to strike the enemy where he is
force, which could operate in “sparsely gasoline, ammunition and bombs” that a least prepared. Although many details
settled countries like North Africa, Iran forward deployed air unit would require must be kept secret concerning its exact
and Iraq.” And to secure a runway for to be operationally effective. size, composition, tactics, objectives, and
incoming aircraft, Kenney proposed It is here that a Air Commando when and where it will strike it can now
“parachuting a small detachment to clear concept of glider operations developed, be revealed that in size, equipment and
the runway.” for Arnold proposed it as solution to fire power the air-borne army ultimately
Although Kenney intended the “Air Kenny’s logistic problem, writing the will exceed anything the world has yet
Blitz Unit” to operate in open terrain use of “[t]ransport gliders [could prove] seen.”
theatres like Africa and the Middle capable of carrying these necessary Seeing that Arnold did not meet with
East, he foresaw instances where such items.” Because glider operations were Wingate until over a year later, or with
a concept could be employed in more still being “studied and developed,” Cochran and Alison until six weeks after
dense and less traverse theaters like India. Arnold could not guarantee gliders were the Wingate meeting, it can be stated with
Kenney’s idea was simple yet innovative. the definitive answer. There also remained certainty that a theory of Air Commando
He thought it was “high time” the Army the problem of allocating aircraft and operations preceded both events. In
make its “air units completely air borne,” personnel to form the unit. Despite these fact, a close look at the plan developed
not simply tools to advance ground forces problems, Arnold promised Kenney that by Cochran and Alison significantly
as Tactical Air Commands would employ that his “Air Blitz Unit” proposal would coincides with Kenney’s vision and
in the European theatre. In Kenney’s be forwarded and considered. Arnold’s addition of glider operations—
mind, the unit’s movement would be “the A week later, Kenney’s proposal this similarity being the two plans directly
like of which our Air Force has never was received by Lieutenant General cut against conventional air power
known, but identical to that which will Carl A. Spaatz’s “Commando division” doctrine, a period where aircraft were
be encountered in any other part of the with Arnold’s recommendation that limited to conducting reconnaissance,
world.” the staff “get busy on this right away.” deploying munitions to predetermined
When Arnold replied to Kenney’s Historian William T. Y’Blood, author of targets, or aiding in the advancement

10 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │Summer 2013 www.aircommando.org

of ground forces. Never was air power place during the Civil War.” The Air “[When an] alternate landing field is
thought to be employed in a manner to Commando concept merely improved in danger of attack, the entire [Liaison]
disrupt the enemy from within, yet this upon the principle that “well-led, well- Squadron with the equipment can
was the bold and daring theory advanced manned troops could engage enemy line evacuate and, hence, frustrate enemy
by a Kenney and Arnold. And there can be of communication troops, and that a small action. In like manner, when the alternate
little doubt that Arnold shared this earlier number could go behind the enemy’s line strip is in danger, the Squadron will
Air Commando vision with Alison and and create great destruction, great havoc, merely evacuate again to another area.
Cochran. It was at this juncture that the and create opportunities for larger forces By leap frogging from landing field
vision was implemented, modified, and to advance.” to landing field, a defense of sorts is
improved by forward thinking officers What distinguished the Air practicable.”
like Alison and Cochran. Commando concept was its use of air To be in “danger of attack” did not
Certainly, one cannot dismiss that power to accomplish this task. Fighters necessarily mean the enemy was within
Wingate played a role in the creation of the and bombers were to be employed as reach of the airfield. Air Commandos
1st Air Commando Group. For one, the “mobile artillery” for ground forces, assumed the risk that the “presence of
August meeting with Wingate cemented with the lynchpin of operations being the enemy is seldom sufficient to prohibit
the creation of the Air Commandos. the use of troop transports and light operations in an area.” Even should the
Before the meeting took place, Arnold did planes to insert and extract supplies or enemy operate “around three sides of
not have a projected theatre of operations personnel. According to a unpublished a landing strip,” the Air Commandos
to deploy the concept. This fact alone working chapter entitled “The Theory were expected to continue operations
must have hindered Arnold in obtaining and Command and Control of Light “as normal.” Thus, evacuation teetered
the necessary approvals to acquire Plane Support of Ground Forces,” light not on the location or size of the enemy,
aircraft and begin training. Then there is planes provided ground forces with but on whether the enemy was capable
Wingate’s leadership imprint. In a August the “additional mobility” necessary of overrunning the airdrome. In such an
1944 article in National Geographic, to “evacuate[e] the wounded and ill, instance, all “vital equipment and the
Arnold made sure to credit Wingate for replac[e] personnel, perform[] short pilots” were evacuated by air, with the
advancing the idea that “well-trained range reconnaissance, transport[]… remaining “balance” having to “march”
Allied troops could defeat [the Japanese] supplementary supplies and personnel, to the alternate location.
at their own game [of jungle warfare], and perform[] the mission of long Given these facts, it is rather fitting
provided they were mobile, in sufficient range cavalry.” To state it plainly, it was to describe the Air Commando theory
force, and exploited the military value through air superiority that the ground of operations as “daring” and a “break-
of surprise.” In a New York Times op-ed troops would be able wreak havoc upon through.” In fact, upon learning of
immediately following the operation, the enemy, which in turn would aid the Operation Thursday, the London Times
Alison also credited Wingate’s “drive and main body’s advance. described the “airborne operation” as
enthusiasm” as inspiring an air commando Still, there remained the problem of an “original and daring conception
force. However, other than providing airfield security. While the creation of which promised to change the face of
a military complement to Wingate’s forward airfields, behind enemy lines, the war” in Burma. The New York Times
Chindits, the Americans developed their assisted in the supply and security of described Operation Thursday as an
own doctrine and operational plans before Wingate’s columns, a system had to be “aerial break-through” that “menaces”
ever consulting the British General. “We devised to secure the airfields. The idea the enemy. Meanwhile, the Washington
didn’t know how he would react to the developed by Air Commando leadership Post concurred when it published two
idea,” wrote Alison. He and Cochran felt was a leap frog theory that pinpointed articles describing the military feat. One
that if “General Wingate is the genius alternate landing fields. As stipulated by article found the mission to be “one of the
that everyone says he is, he’ll be quick the unpublished working chapter: most daring, imaginative and significant
to realize the advantages of this type of
warfare,” and “[i]f he isn’t a genius, then
we ought to be able to talk him into it.”
Of course, the Americans did not
take credit for the idea of placing troops
in a position to flank enemy lines. In
an April 25, 1944 classified interview,
Alison openly conceded that the Air
Commando theory of operations was “an
old principle of warfare—something like
the old cavalry action which had taken

L-5 Sentinel at Broadway (Photo courtesy of

Patrick J. Charles)

www.aircommando.org Summer 2013 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │ 11

 First P-51 Mustang to Land on Broadway
(Photo courtesy of Patrick J. Charles)

as revolutionary in its affect on warfare

of the future as the musket was in the
battles against the knights of old. It can
be logically predicted that during the
present war, and in the years to come,
every alert military leader and technician
will reach out in all directions for new
methods of attach from the air and for
new means to accomplish this third
dimensional envelopment.”
undertaking of the Pacific War,” and the the outnumbered Germans were able Indeed, the employment of airborne
“largest offensive air operation thus far to surprise the enemy, subdue the fort, parachuting troops had already gained
in the whole Pacific War.” And on the and assist in the advancement of the universal acceptance, but these troops
front page, the Washington Post read, main body. This caused a domino effect lacked heavy supporting equipment.
“Jungle-Jumping Commandos Worst leading to the fall of France and the World War II technology prevented
Japs in Burma Battle,” and described the British at Dunkirk. trucks, vehicles, heavy armament or
operation as applying “leapfrog tactics This course of events caused machine guns, and light tanks from being
of amphibious warfare to Burma’s dense members of the Army Air Corps to parachuted into enemy territory. And
terrain.” reexamine the use of gliders for offensive Kuwalski seems to be the first officer
Indeed, leapfrog tactics were the operations. On February 25, 1941, to advance the idea that gliders could
key to defensive operations, but it was Arnold personally directed the initiation be modified and developed to fix this
the imaginative execution of the gliders of a new glider study outlining military deficiency, thus allowing for an “all out
that placed the Air Commandos in the glider characteristics. The result was air envelopment.”
position to launch such operations. Again, the procurement of existing gliders for Within just a year, the result of this
the use of gliders for special operations military trials and the development of memo and others was the Army Air
did not originate with Cochran, Alison new glider technology. The unintended Corps developed new glider capabilities
or even the imaginative Wingate. Arnold result was an intellectual expansion of to include their extraction. It was an
was the first high ranking Allied officer the operational box. Take for instance a advancement kept classified. In fact,
to advance the idea of creating a “self- September 10, 1941 gyro-glider memo when Arnold announced the creation of
contained force” where “glider pilots and drafted by Captain Frank Kuwalksi, Jr. an “air commando force,” he informed
air-borne combat troops will be in the Presented to Arnold, the memo “strongly the press that “for military reasons”
forefront of attacks.” However, Arnold stressed” how gliders could provide an he could not disclose the process. All
did not come up with idea for offensive “outstanding new development in the he could state is that “United States
glider operations out of thin air nor was theory of warfare; namely, envelopment Army planes, while in flight, have been
he the only officer to advance it. In 1939, of the enemy from the air.” Kuwalski successful in picking up gliders from the
the Germans used cargo gliders for the added: ground.”
invasion of Poland. Then on May 10, “[The use of gliders] will be just In the end, the innovation proved
1940, German paratrooper successfully
used gliders to assault Fort Eben-Emael
along the French Maginot line. At the
time, Fort Eben-Emael was considered
the strongest fortress in the world and
the lynchpin of the Belgian line of
defense. Should the fort be assailed,
military experts calculated the fort could
hold off the Germans for thirty days,
which would have allowed the French
and English to counter. However, with
just eleven gliders and seventy-two
paratroopers armed with high explosives

Glider Being Towed By C-47 (Photo

courtesy of Patrick J. Charles)

12 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │Summer 2013 www.aircommando.org

 The vision undoubtedly led to via “jet-propulsion.” A jet motor would
the operational success of Operation “make it possible for gliders to take off
Thursday, which in turn led to the from a level hilltop or from flat ground,
formation of the 2nd Air Commando and for horizontal flight, where no gain in
and 3rd Air Commando Groups. Also, altitude is required, without automobile,
the success of Air Commando operations plane, or winch towing, or shock-cord
brought Alison before General Dwight launching.” The Society acknowledged
D. Eisenhower, whom sought to there remained the problem of “additional
conduct similar glider operations for weight,” but they viewed the idea as a
the Normandy invasion. Unfortunately, launching point to improve “powered
Allied European operations never airplanes,” for “the low speed at which
mirrored the glider success achieved a glider flies, the pilot can note many
by the Air Commandos. This may have things about the design and construction
been due to the Germans’ familiarity of the plane which could not be readily
with glider operations. It may also be discovered in a power plane travelling at
Gen Henry Arnold Awarding Col Philip G. due to the fact that the use of gliders high speed.”
Cochran Distinguished Service Medal was leaked to the press. On April 25, In many ways, the creation of the Air
(Photo courtesy of Patrick J. Charles) Commandos is like that of other military
history in that technological advancement
always expands the operational box. Few,
fruitful in planning both insertion and
if any, will disagree that mid-twentieth
extraction missions, which led to the
century improvements in air power
evacuation of over 700 wounded from
paved the way for the formation of an
February 10 through March 6, 1944. In
independent airborne force that could
the words of Arnold, even before this
effectively engage the enemy on its own
operational success:
turf. Still, advancements in technology
“[The Air Commando concept]
result only in a military evolution, not
would not only evacuate all wounded
a revolution. The Air Commandos must
by air; [it] would also replace them with
be historically viewed as the latter given
fresh combat troops. Furthermore, none
forwarding linking leaders like Kenney
of the soldiers would have to make long
and Arnold essentially flipped airpower
marches through the jungle to get inside
theory on its head, and hard charging
Burma. They could start fighting in top
leaders like Cochran, and Alison
physical condition.”
Gen John R. Alison (Photo courtesy of Patrick implemented and modified the theory to
Perhaps the best way to describe
J. Charles) make it work. Moreover, their “daring”
the Air Commando theory of operations
concept led to a number of operational
is it sought to expand the operational
1944, six weeks prior to D-Day, the New firsts, including the first composite air
box. What do I mean here? I mean that
York Times reported that the “Allies are unit, first air unit employed with total
sometimes the success of the mission
prepared to carry out airborne operations autonomy, and the first aerial invasion
does not just teeter upon adapting
on an unprecedented scale,” which into enemy territory, etc. And today, Air
and overcoming, but upon innovation
included the deployment of “parachutists Commandos carry on that revolutionary
or the nontraditional use of existing
and glider-troops” that would “not only idea by not only incorporating new
capabilities to expand mission success.
harass German communications but technological advancements to complete
The Air Commando theory envisioned
also establish a front thirty to fifty miles the mission, but by encouraging and
by Kenney, Arnold, Cochran, and Alison
behind the coast.” fostering forward thinking leaders of
was just this. They combined existing
The success of Air Commando glider their own.
military capabilities—paratroopers,
operations inspired more than Allied
fighters, bombers, transports, and
military leaders and eager Americans Patrick J. Charles is the author of numerous
gliders—and implemented, modified,
receiving frontline reports through the articles and books on law and history. He
and combined them in a manner that received his J.D. from Cleveland-Marshall
press. Following a speech before the
expanded operational success. As Alison College of Law, and his B.A. in History
Soaring Society of America by Major
wrote in his first detailed report following and International Affairs from George
Eliot F. Noyes discussing the success
Operation Thursday, “Air Commando Washington University. His writings have
of glider operations, the Science News
is a way of thinking and not a branch been cited by a number of courts, including
Letter published an article highlighting the United States Supreme Court. Charles
of the Air Force.” It was a “method of
the unknown “tactical possibilities” currently serves as a historian for Air Force
warfare” that could be “very effectively
of gliders. In particular, the Society Special Operations Command 352d Special
used against an enemy whose lines of
imagined that gliders could be flown Operations Group at RAF Mildenhall, UK.
communication are long and difficult.”

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 Moving a squadron garrison
while engaged in combat
By Col David Vardaman and
Col Sean Farrell (former 16th SOS commander)

Arrival of the first permanent party AC-130H at Cannon AFB.

(Photo courtesy of Col Sean Farrell)

At its core, this move was about two things (1) The can-do attitude and
warrior spirit of the 16 SOS (they never failed in battle and this move
was simply another battle for them to excel;) and (2) Leadership 101,
defining Commander’s Guidance, Building & Executing a Plan, engaging
with Higher Headquarters to get support/resources, and then having
the flexibility to overcome the challenges laid out in the article such as
continuing combat rotations, personnel choosing to retire/separate,
moving to a base attuned to supporting smaller fighter aircraft, just to
name just a few. This assessment is a great case study for airmen across
the Air Force and future leadership at all levels to reflect upon and learn.
-- Col Tony Bauernfeind, 27 SOW Commander

The stress of a combat establish a framework for deriving its detailed tasks. Secondly,
deployment can be daunting. It it should serve as an unofficial primer for any military historian
can absorb all one’s thoughts and or student exploring this topic in the future. Lastly, in keeping
emotions, and overwhelm the senses with the SOF truth of “Humans are more important than
if not properly managed. Success in this Hardware”, the article recognizes the airmen and families who
endeavor demands an ability to prioritize tasks made the operation successful. Their legacy complements the
and adjust to the unexpected while maintaining focus on the “can do” attitude of special operations forces and reinforces
task at hand. Uprooting a family during a PCS move carries the warfighting commitment the gunship community has
some of the same characteristics, though the impacts are made to our partners on the ground since the day the AC-130
measured on a different scale. An entire squadron doing both gunship entered the Air Force inventory.
at the same time is rare indeed, if not unheard-of in USAF
history. That is, however, exactly what the men and women
Heritage Means Something
The fixed-wing, side-firing gunship was born in
of the 16th Special Operations Squadron and 16th Aircraft
battle through a combination of ingenuity, creativity, and
Maintenance Unit accomplished. During 2008 and 2009
determination. Once it entered into Vietnam on a trial/test
the squadron planned and executed relocation of all eight
basis it never left.1 The analogy of “building the airplane
AC-130H aircraft and all ancillary pieces from Hurlburt Field,
while flying it” is rather appropriate. The vision and leadership
Florida to Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico while roughly
demonstrated at lower levels were key enablers to conquering
a third of its available resources were deployed to conduct
such a unique challenge and this is well-known in the gunship
nightly combat strikes against enemy targets in Operation
community. This audacious spirit and culture continues to be
ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF).
passed down between generations of Air Commandos. Thus
This assessment aims to serve three purposes. First, it when the order to relocate the 16th SOS came, the bedrock of
serves as a case study of an entire unit facing unique problem talented personnel who could handle a dynamic problem set
and how warfighting principles such as “simplicity” helped was already on-hand. Not only would these men and women

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build the plan from scratch, they would be the ones actually served as mission enablers. In an immediate correspondence
executing the movements. The SOF truth of “Quality is more to the entire squadron at home and deployed, the commander
important the Quantity” was never more true. succinctly captured the task ahead: “[The move] is what it
is…a MISSION...and we will not fail.”3
Notification
Within AFSOC the expansion of the Command to its Hitting The Chalkboard (Initial Planning)
newest base, Cannon, was a much-discussed topic. Hurlburt As the pending move quickly approached, the squadron
was a potential single point of failure in an event such as a began small-group gatherings for wargaming it. Spectre had
natural disaster and, besides, AFSOC’s expected growth could 8 aircraft and roughly 160 warfighters that had to relocate.
not be contained within itsboundaries.2 Both the Spooky and Just looking at the crew complement of 9 aviation specialties
Spectre gunship squadrons knew of planning excursions that created a jigsaw puzzle that could confuse anyone un familiar
indicated 4th SOS would be the gunship squadron selected with the gunship community.4 And these variables did not
to make the relocation, and therefore, the energy of the 16th include the school-house portion of the 19th SOS that trained
SOS was not focused on a potential move. That all changed and certified all gunship personnel “mission ready”, aircraft
on Friday, September 15, 2006 at 1430 hours. At a Squadron maintenance , operations supportl, or the families associated
Commander’s Call the unit was officially notified by the Wing with each of these components. Not only did these pieces need
Commander that the 16th SOS had been formally selected as to be synchronized, but a failure in any of the variables could
the gunship squadron to make the move to Cannon. On the cause a seizure in the system--and the clock was ticking.
surface the squadron, though collectively surprised, handled the The vastness of the problem required the squadron to break
news gracefully, but unit leadership (both officer and enlisted) “the system” down into digestible pieces. Instituting a “hard
knew it had to get out in front of expected and impending crew” concept was introduced in order to consolidate personnel
distractions. into small groups. While this is a standard procedure when
A set of three important guidelines were quickly issued to deployed, it is problematic in garrison. Each crew would train,
help maintain unit focus: First, keep improving the squadron at deploy, redeploy, and PCS as a single entity. Along with the
Hurlburt; maintain unit pride and prevent a “renters” mentality. eight crews to fly the eight aircraft, the squadron would need
Squadron murals, briefing rooms, snack bar improvements, partial crews at each of the three locations to serve as planners.
and gunship gala were thus preserved and maintained as These three partial crew elements or detachments would serve
efforts to reinforce esprit de corps. Secondly, keep emphasis critical yet vastly different roles. The downrange element kept
on downrange ops, maintaining support to our warfighting persistent combat ops going on a nightly basis. The “Cannon
partners; safety of crews and ground elements could not be Det,” however, had to start from scratch--bedding down
jeopardized during this challenging period. Finally, the unit aircraft and crews, establishing AC-130 operational procedures
is “all in” on the move--whether PCSing or not, each person at a location that had probably never seen a gunship, and
must help the 16th accomplish this mission. NO exceptions.- preparing the schoolhouse training system to keep the crew
-the entire unit would take ownership of the process. Using force production pipeline on track. The “Hurlburt Det” would
an extreme sport description, there would be no “Tap Outs,” need to close shop on the historical home of the 16th SOS
everyone must keep up the fight. These priorities set the tone and and to account for property transitioning between locations.

Spectre completes another OEF combat mission while the

squadron is relocating to Cannon AFB (circa 2009)
(Photo courtesy of Col Sean Farrell)

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To be sure, the Cannon and Hurlburt detachments would be probably had the best understanding of what would be required
executing an untried and freshly-minted playbook. to make a successful move. Early squadron discussions were
unrestrained and attempted to capture every possible element
It Is More Than Just The Aircraft And Crews and associated risk regarding the move. Over time these efforts
Cannon AFB was historically a fighter base. Regardless
yielded a framework to consult as well as identification of
of special ops traditions and cultures, there were fundamental
major challenges demanding higher headquarters’ support.
operational issues lurking around every corner at Cannon-
These planning efforts proved to be a prudent investment.
-some expected and some discovered. The squadron learned
During a normal day at the office the squadron learned
very quickly how unique the gunship is and how small its
of an impending meeting at AFSOC Headquarters to discuss
community. The differences between gunship and fighter
the site survey5 effort for the overall Cannon enterprise. We
aircraft training operations were literally “night and day”
consulted the Group Commander and he agreed that the
in many cases--runway operations, blacked-out missions
squadron ought to participate, so I (Farrell) served as the
using night vision goggles, hot-cargo ammunition uploading
squadron representative. To our surprise the meeting turned
for live-fire training missions, airspace takeoff profiles to
was chaired by the 3-star commander. [To reinforce how
accommodate the engine-performance-challenged AC-130,
impromptu my attendance was, I was sitting in the second-
range operations for side-firing weapons versus straight runs
row bleacher seats next to the command Chaplain.] Various
from fighter aircraft, and inclusion of ground parties all were
briefings were presented, including a small overview of the
executed during normal nocturnal training profiles. Gunship
16th SOS. Eventually the staff asked me if the squadron had any
operations out of Hurlburt Field had developed over a period of
inputs. Based upon our initial planning I elaborated on some
over four decades and 16th SOS needed to implant some form
salient points, such as the need to ensure the maintenance piece
of these tried and tested procedures into Cannon in a matter
of the relocation moved in lock-step with the ops piece. When
of months. It took a talented and dedicated cadre of personnel
my short comments were complete the general said, “You see,
to work through these issues and these Air Commandos really
we need to make sure his team has everything they need.” That
knocked the ball out of the park.
represented a blank check--not only did this authority help
The Blank Check Is Written tie-in the maintenance and support elements that would move
(Opportunity Knocks) out with the 16th SOS, it also allowed us to coordinate with
The rough-draft analysis by the squadron during the early A1 to build up the squadron to the full levels identified in our
days of the pending move proved to be significant in establishing manning documents. Without 100% manning it might not have
an operational framework. Normally a squadron is focused been possible to cover the three locations.
on near-term deliverables like the flying schedule, aviator The Challenge -- Operations from Three
upgrades, and periodic check-rides. Other than management of
Disparate Locations
deployment schedules, longer-term endeavors that are months
As planning progressed the Wing had to make a tough
away are normally planned at higher staff echelons. Certainly
decision that was bound to affect the close air support mission
most squadrons don’t spend time considering moving their
in OEF. Would the 16th SOS reduce its presence downrange?
entire unit, but the 16th SOS leadership quickly realized it
Could another asset backfill the mission? How long would the
modified solution be in place? Could the
unit conduct the move with no change to
its downrange posture--in effect could
the 16th operate from three locations
simultaneously? Operations on such a
large scale would be problematic to say
the least. Each location would require
the full spectrum for operations--fliers,
maintenance, ammunition, and OSS-
type support personnel.
The squadron looked back
on previous operations to gauge the
feasibility of such an undertaking. Recent
Operational Readiness Inspections (ORIs)
from off-station locations provided a
glimpse of some lessons learned for
the unit to consider. Then during a two-
month period in the summer of 2008 the
squadron was able to simultaneously
support Operation WILLING SPIRIT
(OWS) and OEF while maintaining
6
home-station unit and schoolhouse

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training. This real-world experience
proved that the squadron could indeed
prosecute its mission from 3 separate
bed-down locations; it would not be easy
and could not be sustained for long, but
recent experience proved it was doable.
The squadron required flexibility and
a slight reprieve from other higher
headquarters taskings (i.e. it couldn’t
operate from more than three locations),
but the Spectre community could do it.
Therefore the Wing leadership approved
the option of moving the squadron, its
associated training system, and the
diverse AC-130H support elements,
while never skipping a beat with OEF
operations, as the way-ahead.
EXECUTION -- The Lilly Pad
Approach
With the hard-crew concept
implemented, the squadron executed Summary
relocations in elements of one to two crews. Upon completion The relocation by the 16th SOS from Hurlburt to Cannon
of a 60-90 day OEF deployment, each crew would be off-line was by no means easy. There were simply too many challenges
for 90 days to take post-deployment leave followed by pack- (though successfully overcome) to be properly captured in this
out in Florida, cross-country movement, and unpack at Clovis condensed case study. Although this assessment is relatively
Air Force Base. The crew would then conduct pre-deployment brief, future military planners or decision makers should walk
spin-up at Cannon for 90 days before return downrange. In the away from it with the following points: First, talented people
figure below “CM 1/1” is a good example. CM 1/1 identifies the can accomplish anything. Secondly, unity of effort is paramount
crew as Cannon Move Element 1 / Chalk 1. Chalk 2 (Crew #2) in any challenge. And, finally immediately available top-down
would follow along a similar timeline. The CM 1/1 crew would leadership, with overarching guidance, will go a long way in
complete its combat deployment on or about 28 February, then establishing mission focus.
spend March through May taking care of family business Additionally it should be reinforced that the relocation of the
and PCS-ing from Hurlburt to Cannon, accomplishing flight squadron had no previous template to begin with. However,
re-currencies from June through August, then would redeploy when following basic planning procedures and establishing
to OEF in September as “CVS 1”. That crew would represent a guiding framework, even the most difficult tasks can be
a landmark achievement as it would serve as the first Cannon- overcome. Finally, this assessment serves to recognize the Air
based AC-130H crew to deploy. Commandos and their families who successfully accomplished
this mission. While the focus has been on the 16th SOS,
migrating the ops component was only half of the challenge.
From maintenance, to ammo, and all of the support agencies,
everyone involved proved critical and executed a monumental
task with precision and elegance.

About the Author: Col Vardaman is a “Ghostrider” from the

AC-130U community of the 4th SOS. He is currently stationed at
the Pentagon as part of the HQ USAF Staff.
Col Ferrell is stationed at Cannon AFB serving as the commander
of the 27th SOG.

Footnotes:
1. “Development and Employment of Fixed-Wing Gunships”, Jack S. Ballard, Office of
Air Force History, US Government Printing Office, 1982.
2. Cannon AFB now has more aircraft assigned than Hurlburt Field
3. 14 Sep 2006 email from SQ/CC (Lt Col Fordyce) to all 16th SOS personnel.
4. Crew complement--pilot, copilot, flight engineer, navigator, fire control officer,
electronic warfare officer, load master, sensor operators, and aerial gunners.
5. Known as a Site Activation Task Force (SATAF)
Downrange ops don’t miss a beat. (Photo courtesy of Col Sean 6. 16th SOS draft concept brief slides, March 2008. “CVS” is the aviation identifier for
Farrell) Clovis (Cannon AFB), NM.

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A Long, Hard
Successful Day
“The fall issue of the Air Commando Journal contained an article called Gunship III
about the AC-119 gunships used in the Vietnam War. It reminded me of one of the
most successful days I had as a Forward Air Controller (FAC) while I was assigned to the
1/9th Air Cavalry Squadron. I had an unusual tour as I was the only FAC assigned to the
Helicopter Reconnaissance Squadron and therefore worked with all three of the 1st Air
Cavalry Division’s brigades so I worked over the division’s entire area of perations (AO). To
do the job I properly I flew helicopters with each troop in each brigade, in addition to the
USAF’s North American OV-10 Bronco. I later transferred to Nakon Phanom (NKP) flying
over the Ho Chi Minh Trail with the 23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron (TASS).”

By LtCol (Ret) Ray H. Janes

The 12th of May 1969 started out as a really quiet day fuel, and ideas. They wondered if I could come and help finish
for me, but it didn’t stay that way for long. I flew a Visual the job. I said I would if they could hang on while I refueled.
Reconnaissance (VR) mission in the morning and then flew They agreed since they were close to the base. I signaled my
a second one that afternoon when I was called by the Tactical crew chief and told him I needed gas in a hurry. He said he
Operations Center (TOC) from 1/9 Infantry to help extract a could do that if I would taxi down to the fuel bladder because
Long Range Reconnaissance Team that was surrounded by there was no fuel truck available. I told him to pull the chocks
Viet Cong (VC). It was a very hot fight and fortunately I was and lead me to it. He jumped in my jeep and led me to the fuel.
successful doing did what FACs often had to do to get soldiers When I arrived at the bladder he signaled me to taxi the
what was needed for the situation, but that’s another story. nose of the bird as close to the bladder as possible and after
When I landed it was close to sunset and I was surprised I did I shut down. While he and another guy climbed up on
when my crew chief signaled me to only shut down the left the wing to refuel the aircraft, I left the cockpit to take care of
engine. After I did he climbed up to the cockpit and told me some personal business and get a big drink of water. Flying
that the 1/9th TOC wanted me to call them on the radio, which the OV-10 was very hot work. I climbed back into the bird
was very unusual. I switched frequencies while wiping the just as they finished fueling and got the signal to restart. With
sweat from my face and asked they needed. They told me the both engines running, I attempted to turn away from the fuel
“Last Light” flight, Army helicopters from the 1st Cav, needed bladder, but we were parked so close to the bladder and slightly
me to help them out. Theirs was the last scheduled flight of downhill so that all I was doing was jamming the nose into
the day flown just before sunset to try to locate sites where the the bladder. This is not a good thing to do with the engines
VC had set up rockets to fire at the base at night. Night rockets running, so the crew chief climbed back up to the cockpit and
were a regular occurrence because the Division headquarters told me to reverse the props and they would try to push the
and the 3rd Brigade were stationed there. aircraft far enough backwards to allow me to turn away from
The troopers had found a VC anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) the fuel bladder. This is another instanced where a FAC had to
site and had destroyed one gun, but were out of ammunition, do something in a combat situation that would otherwise have

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 OV-10 Aircraft (USAF Photo)

been a no-no. Reverse thrust was not to be used to back up the (DASC) and they told me that there were no fighters available,
OV-10 because the landing gear was not designed to handle it. but if I could wait 20 minutes I could have a Shadow flight.
We did it anyway. I had to ask what a Shadow was and they told me it was a
The ground team straightened the nose wheel and signaled gunship. Since I had the artillery battery firing for me at that
they were ready to push, so I put the engines into reverse time, I thought I could wait.
thrust and eased the throttles up. I slowly backed up a few feet The Shadow gunship contacted me and unfortunately I
while they pushed until the crew chief signaled me to reduce didn’t note his complete call sign in my diary. I described the
the power. We had successfully moved the aircraft far enough target to him and when he told me he had me in sight, I replied
from the fuel bladder that I was able t to turn and taxi toward I was putting in a marker, dove toward the target, and fired
the runway. a rocket. At the same time, I called the artillery to fire their
After takeoff I contacted the Last Light flight and they illumination round. The marking rocket and the artillery round
briefed me on the mission. When I arrived on scene they went off at about the same time. The Shadow said, “Man! With
pointed out the three AAA positions. Each one was the usual that firepower you don’t need us.” I laughed and told him that
circular ditch with the gun mounted in the center so it could I had been worried about marking in the darkness. That was
fire 360 degrees. The three positions were also situated to allow when he informed me that he had flares available. What I did
them to focus all their fires on one target or to cover each other not know about gunships! I directed Shadow to the target using
if they were attacked. Last Light pointed out the AAA site they the mark I had fired and he told me that he had it from then on.
had destroyed and returned to base. I asked the TOC if any As I turned for home I saw the stream of fire from his
gunship helicopters could be scrambled for me to control, but aircraft hitting the AAA sites. That was answered by the VC
they said it was getting too dark and they had no flares to work shooting back at Shadow. The pilot radioed, “Whoa they’re
with. I then contacted an artillery battery for support, but they really down there aren’t they?” I answered, “Yep, and their all
said they already had a fire mission. Still, I wheedled a few yours.” He said, “They’re dead meat now!” And they were.
rounds out of them and they destroyed the second AAA site Shadow called them destroyed as I lined up with the runway
before they were ordered to fire their previously scheduled fire for the last time that day. It had been a long day, but it wasn’t
mission. As it was getting darker and darker, and I was afraid over yet.
that any strike missions I could get would not have flares, I I landed and headed for the hooch to eat out of my stash
convinced the battery to keep one illumination round ready as since the chow halls were closed. I had my meager dinner and
a marker for me. They agreed since they had two other guns to headed for a cold, but refreshing shower. I had just settled down
begin firing their mission. to write home when the alert siren sounded. I rushed down into
I had been on the radio to the Direct Air Support Center the bunker and listened to the Green Line begin firing. It didn’t

www.aircommando.org Summer 2013 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │ 25

 last too long and I went back, finished my letter, and
went to bed.
The next day I learned that six enemy had been
killed in the wire. It was the general opinion that they
were to have mounted an attack to get the helicopters
to scramble so they could be shot down by the anti-
aircraft guns that had been mounted outside the camp.
Those enemy soldiers evidently had not gotten the
word and their efforts were wasted. I don’t know
if it was true, but the story circulated that the base
barber had been one of the attackers killed in the wire
and there was a new barber the next time I needed a
haircut. If the Shadow crew reads this I want them
to know they did more than just destroy a gun, they
saved a lot of lives – including mine since I might have
been ordered back out to fly that night. We normally
didn’t work with gunships because they usually dealt
directly with the ground troops, but I was sure happy
I had the chance to see what they could do. It’s no
wonder the ground troops loved to watch them work!

About the Author: Lt. Col. Ray Janes, USAF Ret. is a retired
Fighter Interceptor pilot who spent his Vietnam tour as a
TOP: Most gunships, like this AC-119G, were painted black on the bottom. FAC/ALO with the I/9th Air Cavalry Squadron flying the
It made them less visible from the ground at night. (U.S. Air Force photo) OV-10 and three different Army Helicopters. Later he
transferred to Nakon Phanom RTAFB and flew over the
HO Chi Minh Trail. He retired in 1975 and taught English
BOTTOM: Capt. William Groves, AC-119 navigator, gets the coordinates of and Journalism for 16 years before retiring finally in 1992
enemy positions from an allied ground commander. With such devastating in Denton, TX. Now he volunteers at the Cavanaugh Flight
firepower, accurate positioning was essential. (U.S. Air Force photo) Museum and has written three books about his service
career. They are squadron histories about the 94th FIS,
317th FIS in Alaska and his Vietnam Diary of which this
story is a part.

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In 2007, HQ AFSOC/A3T, Chief, Operations Training, Col Mark Pruitt,
asked me to write this paper to provide today’s SOF crews with a view
of how forward air controllers (FACs) trained for and executed missions
to find, track, and engage an enemy who employed irregular warfare in
Vietnam. To provide a comparison to today’s fight, this paper describes
training and training length; tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP);
equipment; command and control (C2); threat; and capabilities of
FACs in 1972.

Atmosphere
The late 1960s and early 1970s were a vastly different time than the 1990s,
2000s, and today. America’s very vocal and hostile minority vented their loathing
of the conflict inappropriately, casting derision on military members. The nation
experienced numerous large protests and demonstrations against the military
and the war in Southeast Asia. Jane Fonda visited with the enemy, giving him
hope that his stamina could win out against our decaying commitment. The
military was populated with draftees, patriotic volunteers, and young men who
volunteered to gain more control over their military destinies than draftees. The
Air Force had flying squadrons in and around the combat zone and assignment to
them was recorded as a permanent change of station (PCS). Continuation training
requirements and flight evaluations were waived for combat assignments. During
the conflict, over 58,000 American service members were killed, 303,000 were
wounded, and 1,600 were registered as missing. Military members, dealing with
a feeling of isolation from their communities at home and a significant risk of
death or being wounded during the combat tour, lived life as if there was no
tomorrow. The military clubs were bulging at the seams, drinking and partying
was heavy and continuous, and behavior that would warrant punishment today
was condoned, expected, and even supported.P

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 “ This is another type of war, new in its intensity,
ancient in its origin -- war by guerrillas, subversives,
insurgents, assassins, war by ambush instead of
by combat; by infiltration, instead of aggression,
seeking victory by eroding and exhausting the

”
enemy instead of engaging him.
— President John F. Kennedy, June 6, 1962

Top Photo: Steep rocket pass marking

a bridge over a stream in the jungle.
(Photo courtesy of Stephen Eells.)

Middle Photo: O-2A fires smoke

rocket in Vietnam.

Bottom Photo: A-7 on a low angle

bomb run.
(Photo courtesy of Stephen Eells.)

www.aircommando.org Summer 2013 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │ 29

 binoculars, manage and clear the fighters, control the yoke with
your knees, and write with grease pencil all over the windows –
most of which had to be accomplished simultaneously.
As qualified O-2A FACs we considered ourselves lethal
“weapons” in the US arsenal, ready to take on the Viet Cong
(VC) and defend freedom in Southeast Asia (SEA). We went
home to our families to say goodbye and then, from various
locations, we boarded commercial aircraft to get to Travis AFB,
California, to meet our contract flight to Clark Airbase.
“Snake School”, as Jungle Survival was known, was a
O-2A demonstrating increased drag due to the gear doors blur of heat, humidity, boring but informative classes, a jungle
during gear extension and retraction. (Photo courtesy of Stephen
Eells.) exercise with indigenous Nigretos, and an anxiety that if you
were shot down you would probably die from snakes long
before the Viet Cong got to you (although they assured us this
Preparing Warriors was not true).
I reported to Hurlburt Field at the end of Sep 1971. My
training included Air-Ground Operation School (AGOS), Arriving “In Country”
O-2A initial and mission qualification at Hurlburt, and Jungle The next stop was Vietnam. It was one hop into Cam
Survival training at Clark AB, Philippines, to prepare me for Ranh Bay and another to Phan Rang, where we would get our
a late November arrival in Vietnam. My class was about 10 in-country indoctrination. The place was beautiful -- too bad
first-assignment pilots, one Captain on his second assignment, they were having a war there. The sea, beaches, mountainous
and me – a second-assignment Lieutenant with about 4 months terrain, and jungle growth were spectacular. Most of the
experience in C-141’s. The first step, AGOS, provided us with population was very poor, but the people were always smiling
a myriad of useful information to include command and control and laughing. Maybe a good lesson to learn.
(C2) structure applicable to FAC – airborne (FAC-A) and air Our stop at Phan Rang was intended to provide a few flights
liaison officers (ALO); tactics, techniques and procedures with an IP to “see how it’s done in-country” before we went to
(TTP), briefing requirements, and rules of engagement (ROE) our new homes and assignments. The first night in-country was
for directing fighters, naval guns, and field artillery; visual a little uneasy, waiting for the VC to knock down the door or
reconnaissance (VR) techniques; ordnance types, capabilities, a rocket to come through the roof, but these feelings quickly
and fusing; fighter capabilities; and enemy air defense systems faded to a more standard feeling that “it always happens to the
and recognition. other guy.”
With AGOS behind us, overloaded with new knowledge During the short stay at Phan Rang, we learned our areas
and attitude, we went to Holley Field for “checkout” in the of operation contained the VC, North Vietnamese Army
O-2A – irreverently referred to as Oscar Duck, Oscar Deuce, or (NVA), and later the People’s Republic of China (PRA) Army’s
Oscar Pig. At Holley we found a small civil twin engine aircraft capillaries of resupply and infiltration. Except for the infrequent
with a design gross weight of 4600 pounds, heavily modified villages and firebases, anything that moved was suspect. With
with external rocket pods, armament panel, radio rack, and confirmation that there were no friendly patrols in the area, we
multiple additional radios flown at a gross weight of 4850 had clearance to strike.
pounds. Training was very basic – learn to takeoff and land, My new home was Pleiku AB in the central highlands.
shoot rockets, operate and talk on multiple radios --usually VHF I was assigned to the 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron
to the Direct Air Support Center (DASC), UHF to the fighters, (TASS) Detachment 1 (the squadron was based at DaNang).
and FM to the ground party(ies), read a map, look through We were known as the Tigerhound Covey FACs and my call
sign was Covey 525. We shared the base
with Vietnamese A-1 and AC-47 units. We
had great quarters, everyone had his own
room. Unfortunately, these rooms had no
air conditioning but it was cool at night. The
quarters building could be described as an
old one-story motel with a revetment around
it and communal bathrooms. The squadron
hooch bar was in the back, and there was a
tiny BX, all-ranks club, chow hall, primitive
fitness center, and squadron headquarters
building. We walked everywhere.

Ben Het Firebase is the Central Highlands of

South Vietnam. (Photo courtesy of Stephen Eells.)

30 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │Summer 2013 www.aircommando.org

Preparing for Battle our area, altitude became more significant. Recommended
Mission preparation was a combination of getting briefed altitudes basically ruined our ability to do VR, so most of us
and collecting so much gear you could hardly walk to the overlooked the recommendations. The general feeling among
plane once you suited up. With a map bag the size of a small FACs was that the old Duck didn’t produce enough heat
suitcase full of one-to-50,000 (1/50) and one-to-250K (1/250) for those early versions of the SA-7 to lock onto. The other
scale maps we first went to the intelligence (intel) shop and weapons we encountered in Vietnam and Cambodia were
got briefed. We would get our area assignment; info on recent small arms, 12.7mm, 14.5mm, 23mm (twin), 37mm, and I did
air strikes; friendly and enemy activity including possible see one 57mm anti-aircraft gun during the spring offensive.
threat locations; requests for reconnaissance and bomb Night flights over Laos were another story, with a much larger
damage assessment (BDA); targets or locations to be struck; menu.
fighter aircraft on the air tasking order (ATO) and their loaded Our mission was to conduct VR; support fire bases
ordnance, to include your own fighters; scheduled strikes like and patrols from fire bases; support “non-national” military
B-52 drops called ArcLights; and any other info or requests forces; collect BDA from strikes without FAC control such as
that were applicable. Notes were taken and maps were marked. Arc Lights; and request and control strikes from fighters and
We would check out our “secrets” to authenticate people artillery on preplanned and pop-up targets for close air support
on the radios and manually encrypt messages for transmission (CAS) and battlefield air interdiction (BAI). We did VR for,
over non-secure radios. We would also get the KY-28 key and in conjunction with, ground parties andfire bases and also
device to prep our crypto system for transmitting classified searched on our own for traces of the enemy. Because we flew
information, but using the system proved to be a nightmare.
We would then get the weather briefing.
Next we were off to the equipment shop to get our heavy
ballistic helmet, survival vest, flack jacket (most of us sat on
it), back-pack parachute, .38, M-16 and extra clips, binoculars,
and starlight scope if it was a night mission. This was in
addition to the other stuff we normally had with us such as
water, snacks, grease pencils, and whatever extra survival gear
we thought appropriate.
The Vietnam heat and all this stuff made for a sweaty walk
to the aircraft, which were parked in their roofless revetments.
Roofless was significant because it allowed the sun to bake the
Duck while it waited for you to get there, while the revetment
walls served to block any breeze. The 150-degree interior
(typical for a sunny day) inspired the pilot to get the front
engine (the airflow was the O-2A’s only air conditioner) started
after approximately 7 seconds of sitting in the seat.
The aircraft were loaded with two rocket pods carrying 7
rockets each. Normally the rockets contained white phosphorus
for marking targets, but we could also take high explosive (HE) O-2A cockpit. Armament panel in the top middle, gunsight to its
or fleshettes (nails). The O-2A had 2 more hard points used left. Missions flown single piloted. (Photo courtesy of Stephen Eells.)
for illumination flares for night ops or whatever was deemed
necessary in a given mission.
The heat and altitude also affected takeoff and climb-out. frequently in our own areas we became very familiar with how
The runway was 9000 feet long, and on a hot day we used most things should look every day; signs of activity and changes
of it. One feature of the O-2A that was evidently overlooked thus became more obvious the more we flew in the same area.
but important to us--relative to over-gross-weight operations, Our missions lasted approximately four hours, which
rocket-pod-produced drag, the Vietnam heat, and the higher gave us plenty of time to check in with the fire bases to see
airfield altitude--was the drag associated with the landing gear if they had any intel or targets and then to do our own intel
doors during gear retraction. After takeoff the pathetic climb collection if we were not directing strikes. Missions spanned
rate was insufficient to raise the gear until a pilot had achieved the spectrum from eye-strain and boredom to pandemonium. A
enough altitude to sacrifice climb to get the gear up. good FAC day was the latter.
One day I was about 90 miles north of Pleiku, looking for
In the Skies of Vietnam signs of the black pajama’ed Charlie (VC) when I got a call
With gear successfully up, I was enroute to my assigned from the Direct Air Support Center (DASC). I was checking
area. It could be the northeast portion of Cambodia or Vietnam the fords across streams for water pulled up one side indicating
north of Pleiku for about 200 miles from the Laotian border to recent traffic; soft or damp places on the dirt roads that would
halfway across Vietnam. We usually flew between 1500 and show fresh tracks; and edges of the jungle for broken or
2500 feet for good VR capability. When we became aware damaged vegetation. I was using binoculars, which required a
of SA-7 man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) in

www.aircommando.org Summer 2013 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │ 31

learned talent to transition from normal vision onto the spot you together than after they have fled individually into the jungle.
wanted to check out while keeping the aircraft, your head, and My mind was starting to race and the Oscar Duck was
the binoculars still enough to provide a good look. Two hands plugging along at 140 knots. It seemed I would never get there
on the binocs helped stabilize them so I was flying with my feet at that speed. The target was about 8 kilometers (klicks) north
on the rudder pedals and my knees controlling bank with the of the firebase on the east side of a road or trail and a creek.
yoke. Changing bank changed elevator trim requirements so The friendlies were about a klick west-southwest on a knoll.
the nose would drop until airspeed increased, which increased Upon arrival, I would stay over or south of the firebase until I
elevate trim effectiveness so the nose would come up reducing had fighters on station to preserve the surprise party. I pulled
airspeed, which would decrease trim effectiveness, and so on my VHF, UHF, and FM listen buttons and set the volume
on. Essentially I was porposing around, essentially jinking – to medium--VHF for Crown (call sign of the DASC), UHF for
varying altitude and heading to complicate anti-aircraft artillery fighters and FM for Ben Het. I was not listening to HF – it
(AAA) tracking solution. This work was pretty tedious and I was noisy, hard to understand, and used almost exclusively as a
was hoping that the DASC had something more interesting for last-ditch effort to get to the DASC. My transmit waiver switch
me. was set to UHF in the hopes that the next radio call I would
get would be a formation of fighters diverted from another,
A Mission Unfolds less-important mission. I got the distance (known as DME)
The DASC called and directed me to come up on secure
and radial off the Pleiku TACAN from my 1/250 map in case
radio. They said the firebase Ben Het had a team in the jungle
the fighters needed it – I was too low to pick it up from my
and found what was reported to be approximately 50 VC and
aircraft TACAN radio. I put the 1/250 and the appropriate 1/50
NVA, vehicles, supplies, and weapons including 12.7/14.5s and
under my right thigh and made a grid on my front window with
maybe 23/2 AAA. I requested lots of general purpose bombs
grease pencil to keep track of my rockets.
followed by anything incendiary to work the area.
As I approached Ben Het, I moved the transmit waiver to
It was standard FAC practice to record this information in
FM and gave them the standard call. “Ben Het, Covey 525.”
grease pencil across the top of the side window. This practice
After a minute or two, “Covey, this Bet Het.”
was much easier to do than trying to write on paper, easier to
I wanted to mention the Crown conversation so they would
find the info to give to the fighters, and it kept our heads up and
know I knew about the target and wouldn’t need to brief me on
out of the cockpit when writing or reading.
it, so I responded, “Ben Het, Covey - just talked to Crown, how
The friendly team was undetected and had watched the
you doin’?”
enemy pull up into the jungle at daybreak. (The enemy moved
They evidently caught on, “Covey, we do fine, how you
mostly at night to avoid detection.) The team sent a runner back
do?”
to the firebase with the information rather than make a radio
“Ben Het, I am just checking in and plan to work to your
call and possibly alert the enemy unit that it had been observed.
south unless you have something for me.”
The VC had radios and listened for intel on our freqs. We even
Cat and mouse was still alive and well, “Good Covey, talk
talked to them sometimes. So the cat and mouse game began.
to you later.”
We knew they were there, but they didn’t know that we knew.
I was headed for a loose orbit south of the firebase to wait
The DASC gave me coordinates of the target and of the team
for fighters. I was familiar with the target area and planned to
and said it was working on launching or diverting fighters, then
arrive over it at the same time as the fighters. A quick rocket
provided a UHF strike frequency.
with the fighters ready to roll in would minimize the time
Ben Het was a Montagnardfirebase, which made a
for the enemy to react and maximize the concentration and
difference. Montagnards were courageous fighters and didn’t
potential for BDA.
want the communists telling them what to do with their lives.
They were very primitive and when we saw them in the town Earn your Pay – Its Crunch Time
of Pleiku they would be barefoot, in loincloths, and the women I was starting my first lazy left turn south of the firebase
bare-breasted, carrying their kids in slings over their shoulders. when I heard, “Gunfighter 34, check.” His wingman checks in,
When the Montagnards said they had a target, they had a target.- “Two.”
-not necessarily so with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam “Covey 525, this is Gunfighter 34”
(ARVN). The firebases run by the ARVN always thought they I moved my wafer switch, which manually selected
had enemy on the perimeter, or so it seemed. We blew up a lot another radio, to UHF and responded, “Gunfighter, this is
of jungle and monkeys because the ARVN thought Charlie Covey, say ETA and angels.” (ETA is estimated time of arrival
was in the jungle whenever they heard a noise. and “angels” was jargon for altitude in thousands of feet.)
I was about 40 miles east of Bet Het and headed that way. “Covey, 5 minutes, angels 15, flight of 2 F-4s, 12 MK-82s
I had two of the ingredients required for an awesome day-- each - selectable, 20 mike mike, 15 min station time.” (15K
great target and request for support to a great firebase. Most of feet altitude, 12 500# bombs with the “selectable” ability to
our targets and strikes were against small numbers of enemy choose nose or tail fusing, and 20mm cannon. Nose fuse was
with hand-carried weapons and supplies. In comparison, this used for targets on the surface and tail fuse for those under the
mission to Ben Het was great. All I needed now was ordnance surface.)
and some luck to provide a surprise party for the VC and “Roger Gunfighter, target is 50 VC/NVA, vehicles,
NVA, who were far easier to kill when they were all clustered weapons, maybe 23/2, supplies, possible small arms and light

32 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │Summer 2013 www.aircommando.org

automatic weapons fire, target elevation 2300 feet, coordinates before.
Yankee Bravo 7534, friendlies west 1 klick, over.” (Roger is “Alpha, Covey, are there any changes to the target or your
a brevity word for “I understand,” 23/2 was short for ZU 23-2 position?” If the target moved or they moved I needed to know,
(23mm twin barrel AAA), YB 7534 was the grid coordinate on so that I could get the fighters’ bombs on the enemy and not
a 1/50 map, and klick was jargon for kilometer.) on the friendlies.
“Roger Covey, 50 VC vehicles, weapons, supplies, possible “Covey, no changes since report to DASC.”
small arms and light automatic weapons fire, 23/2, 2300 feet, “Alpha, have you got colored smokes?”
Yankee Bravo 7534, friendlies west 1 klick.” “Two copies.” “Of course Covey.”
(Lead fighter aircraft and each wingman had to acknowledge “Alpha, request you pop a colored smoke at my command,
the receipt of all information that was transmitted from the in a minute or so.”
FAC and necessary for the safe and effective execution of the “Roger, wilco.” (Wilco is brevity for will comply.)
strike.) Wafer to UHF and I called, “Gunfighter, Covey, I have
Starting at the top left corner of my side window below you in sight, my 12 o’clock, I’m in to mark.”
the target info, I wrote all the information about the Gunfighter “Roger Covey, we have you in sight. Two, arm ‘em up for
flight, which was required for the post-mission debrief. nose and 4 per pass.” “Two.”
“Gunfighter, this is Covey, run-in will be southeast to I selected my left rocket pod with a switch on my
northwest, don’t overfly the friendlies. I will mark the target armament panel, and moved the wafer to FM. The target was
and have the friendlies pop a colored smoke, over” pretty much off my nose, so I pulled it up about 30 degrees
“Roger, Covey, SE to NW, not over friendlies, friendlies to trade airspeed for altitude, rolled up to about 90 degrees of
with a colored smoke. Two minutes out.” “Two copies.” bank and pushed bottom rudder. This quickly put me in a nose-
I headed north toward the target to set up for my rocket low attitude losing minimum altitude while I got my nose on
pass and observation position. Proper management and the target and regained coordinated flight. I flipped the pod arm
geometry of the FAC’s maneuvers made air strikes smooth switch on the armament panel, centered the gunsight pipper on
and efficient, eliminating the requirement for the fighters to the trail mid way along the area where the VC was tucked into
make unnecessary orbits, conserving precious fuel, and getting the jungle, hit the pickle button, and transmitted, “Alpha, pop
bombs on target quickly. The requirements included rolling your smoke and say color.”
in on the rocket pass when the lead fighter was at about 180 The rocket fired and streaked toward the target. I started
degrees from his roll-in, firing the rocket, pulling up and turning my pull up and a hi-yucca maneuver (nose high, wing low,
to see where the rocket hit in relation to the target, then getting then bottom rudder) so I could see my rocket splash about 50
into position close to the run-in line so you could see that the meters left, or Southwest of the trail, but close to the desired
fighter was pointed at the target before clearing him to drop. spot from Southeast to Northwest.
The desired closeness to the line was directly proportional to “Covey, Alpha, green smoke away.”
the closeness of the friendlies to the target. This was all done “Roger Alpha, tally ho.” Wafer switch to UHF and I call,
while communicating with the fighters, the ground party, the “Gunfighter, do you see the green smoke?” (Tally ho is brevity
DASC, and andadditional fighters. for “I have it in sight.”)
As I approached the target I confirmed the plot on my 1/50 “Roger Covey, tally ho green smoke.” “Two.”
map corresponded with what I was looking at on the ground. “Gunfighter, green smoke is the friendlies, confirm.”
A quick check was all I needed since, again, I had worked “Roger, Covey, Gunfighter has the friendlies at the green
this area many times. Additionally, the terrain features--with smoke.” “Two.”
an open field, trail, and stream--were unique and there were Back to the target, “OK Gunfighter from my Willie Pete
not many places in this jungle that would support cover for a (white phosphorus smoke from my rocket) go 50 meters NE
target this large.
“Gunfighter, I want 4 MK-82s per pass with some spread,
nose fuse.”
“Roger, 4 per pass, nose. We have Ben Het in sight.”
“Two.”
Blanchard Family Wine has created
“Covey, we have you in sight, give us a wing rock.”
the official wine of the ACA.
I bank left and right and Gunfighter says, “affirm Covey in
20% of the sales of these wines
sight, we are about three miles north starting our obit. Two, will be donated to the ACA.
take spacing.” “Two.”
Wafer switch to FM and I call, “Ben Het Alpha, Covey These wines, as well as other military themed
wines including the MH-53 tribute wine - the
525, over.” (Ben Het Alpha was the team a klick from the
Red Scarf Blend, and the Air Force Academy
target and eight klicks north of the firebase.) Association of Graduates series, the Long Blue
“Covey 525, Ben Het Alpha, good to have you, got you in Line wines, can be ordered by calling James
sight.” I recognized Alpha as Lieutenant Nguyen, which was Blanchard at 303-328-1732 or by emailing
[email protected].
not all that descriptive since half of everyone in Vietnam was
named Nguyen – but I had the pleasure to work with the LT See our entire wine line-up at www.blanchardfamilywines.com

www.aircommando.org Summer 2013 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │ 33

to the trail. From that point I want your headed for the target, not the friendlies. UHF.
bombs in the jungle along the side of the “Gunfighter Lead, cleared hot.” The “Covey, Gunfighter Two is in, FAC
trail walking to the Northwest, over.” fighters were required to be “cleared” in sight.”
“Tally ho, roger along the Northeast by the FAC before releasing the bombs “Two continue.” “Two, cleared hot.”
side of the trail to the Northwest from because the FAC had the position and the Four bombs clear.
your mark. And Lead is in (maneuvering best situational awareness (SA) to assess “Two is off, FAC not in sight.”
his aircraft into a dive toward the target that the run-in and ground situation were “Roger, Two, FAC is clear.”
to establish appropriate parameters to good for bomb release. The first was short of Lead’s but the
release bombs) with FAC in sight.” Seconds later, under the stress of next three were long and hit where Lead’s
To minimize the possibility of the pulling G’s, Lead says, “Lead’s off, FAC landed.
fighter colliding with the FAC during not in sight.” “Covey, Alpha, you and Two were
run-in and pull-off, the fighter would “Roger Lead, I have you in sight, taking small arms and machine gun fire
call whether he had the FAC in sight or at your six, no factor.” (Six is his clock from edge of jungle 100 meters South of
not. If he did not, but the FAC had the position where I was directly behind bombs.”
fighter in sight, safe separation could be him.) Great; if Two dropped where desired
maintained. If neither had the other in Lead’s bombs came off clean and we would have silenced the ground fire.
sight, their positions relative to the target impacted very close to the desired area. 100 meters isn’t very far even with the
would be rapidly discussed to meet the The shock waves from the four bombs jungle for protection, and they chose to
requirement. The bottom line was that raced across the jungle and the clearing. fight with small arms and machine guns
the FAC should always know where the Almost instantaneously there were against F-4s with 500 pound bombs
fighter was and work to maintain safe medium and small secondary explosions instead of disperse into the jungle.
separation. For the first couple of runs near the first two bombs. They must be up to something big and
with these guys there was plenty of I turned more to the North to set up important OR they realize if they can
vertical separation. Later, they would get an orbit in the shape of a figure eight, take me out, the strike will stop – at least
down into “my airspace” and this drill oriented Northeast and Southwest across temporarily. Either way, taking them out
would become more important. the run-in track. I would cross the fighter became my number one job. Wafer to
“Roger, Lead, continue.” run in track behind them, using the size FM, “Roger Alpha, thanks for the info.”
Wafer to FM, “Alpha, lead’s in - put of the lobes to adjust the timing. Wafer to UHF, “Gunfighter, Covey
your heads down.” Wafer to UHF. “Lead, good bombs. Two, I want you – Alpha reports small arms and machine
The Lieutenant responds, “Roger to drop all four of your bombs short of gun fire from the edge of the jungle 100
Covey.” Which probably meant that the where Lead’s first bombs hit, still in the meters South of our Southeastern-most
whole team was poised behind their cover jungle next to the trail.” bombs.”
with eyes on target, similar to American “Roger Covey, walk mine up to “Covey, Gunfighter – copy ground
kids after dark on the fourth of July. Lead’s, I’m about 15 seconds from roll fire 100 south.” “Two.”
My rocket pass and hi-yucca put me in.” “Two, yours were a little long. Lead,
due South of the target headed Southeast, As I maneuvered and Two prepared lets continue to work the jungle along
180 degrees from fighter run in. Lead’s to roll in, I hear on VHF, “Covey 525, the trail to the Southeast of the previous
roll in point was at my 10 o’clock high Crown over.” bombs to take out the ground fire and
so I made a quick left turn to put myself Wafer to VHF, “Crown, Covey 525, whatever else is in there.”
in good position to assess that he was standby, strike in progress.” Wafer to “Roger, Southeast of previous.”

A-7 post-mission fly-by. Not uncommon when fuel, time, and

circumstances permitted. (Photo courtesy of Stephen Eells.)

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 At the altitude the fighters were The author with his aircraft in a revetment at Pleiku before a mission.
dropping and the caliber of weapons (Photo courtesy of Stephen Eells.)
the VC were using, Gunfighter was not
in much danger. On the other hand, I
decided to change my orbit from the
figure eight across the run in to a circle
or oval Northeast of the it, using the
triple-canopy jungle to mask me from
the ground fire. I didn’t have as good
visibility from there, but I did have Alpha
watching for me. If we had movement
on the trail or more ground fire, Alpha
would let me know.
Wafer to VHF, “Crown, Covey 525,
over.”
“Covey 525, Crown, we have
Gunfighter 34 flight and Skeeter 56 flight
for you.”
“Roger, Crown, I am working
Gunfighter now, standing by for Skeeter.”
“Roger, Covey, Skeeter is a flight of
four A-7s, with MK-82 high-drags and
Nape.”
I was thinking this is great: “Snake 15. Skeeter stay above.” explosions, 3 small secondaries, small
and Nape” or “shake and bake” would do “Skeeter standing by at angels 17.” arms and machine gun fire,’ and that Bet
just fine. High-drag bombs, called Snake “Gunfighter Two, I would like your Het would be providing more detailed
Eye, have a retarding fin to stabilize bombs between lead’s last bombs and BDA, which would be forwarded
the bomb and provide a smooth and your last bombs – fill the gap.” through intel channels after Alpha went
consistent arc from aircraft to target – “Roger Covey, fill the gap and Two in to clean up.
very accurate. Nape, of course, is short is in with FAC in sight.” Gunfighter dropped from relatively
for Napalm (a fire bomb) and “shake “Continue.” “Cleared hot.” high altitude with steep delivery angles,
and bake” was a colloquialism used The last four bombs were clear and which was very different than what
frequently. Two called, “Two is off, FAC not in Skeeter’s ordnance required. The A-7s
“Thanks Crown, copy all.” sight.” would be low and shallow, providing
“Covey, lead is in, FAC in sight.” “Roger, Two, FAC is clear.” great accuracy for the Snake Eye and
Wafer to UHF, “Roger, continue.” Two pressed below their SA-7 making a big long splash for the Napalm.
“Lead, cleared hot.” altitude restriction and I am certain it was The Navy and Marines usually operated
Four more bombs clear. to restore his dignity after his first pass lower than the USAF anyway, andhis
“Lead is off, FAC not in sight.” and to try to impress the Navy A-7s that different delivery profile would require
“Roger Lead, FAC is clear.” were up on strike frequency. Hopefully me to fly a different orbit to stay out
Must be like golf. When the previous lead would not make an issue of it. of the way but meet my requirement to
player putts long the tendency is for the “Two, good bombs right in the gap, assess their run in.
next player to putt short. And so it was with two good secondaries. That should I briefed and directed Skeeter with
with lead’s bombs. The string was good take care of the ground fire.” very good results. During the strike, two
left and right but a significant gap of For the next two passes we worked more flights checked in, the last a flight
200 meters remained between his last the same area but farther from the trail. of 2 Vietnamese A-1s from Pleiku. These
bomb and Two’s first bomb--a common Both Lead and Two were pressing the guys were great, some with 10,000 flight
problem after the USAF restricted the altitude. This flight had a “can do” attitude hours. Many of them could actually hit
fighters to altitudes up in the ionosphere. and the USAF showed a favorable side to what they we aiming at, without the help
As I am repositioning I hear, “Skeeter the Navy. of computerized bombing systems or
check in.” “Two.” “Three.” “Four.” As standard procedure for the lasers and guided bombs.
“Covey 525, this is Skeeter 56, flight preliminary strike results, I briefed
of 4 A-7s, approximately 10 minutes Gunfighter as they departed with the
Post Strike
out.” details I had on the strike as I wrote them After directing and debriefing the
“Skeeter 56, Covey 525, I have three on my window. ‘Target info as previously A-1s, with my side window and the top
more passes with Gunfighter and I will briefed, time on and off target, 24 half of the windscreen full of grease
be right with you. Gunfighter is at angels MK-82s no duds, two medium secondary pencil markings, four rockets remaining

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 goodness it was only a two-ship that day. season sent a battalion-minus of NVA
I will never understand how such small, and PRC regulars to take Ben Het. The
skinny people could drink so much beer. most tragic and painful mission for me
Other than the formation join up, the during my tour was trying to support Ben
trip back was uneventful. Pleiku was not Het, Lieutenant Nguyen, and the other
under rocket attack, so I didn’t have to courageous Montagnards as the camp
land at the village of Kontum on pierced fell. The weather was Delta Sierra (dog
steel planking (PSP) (slipperier than owl s---, very bad) and I was getting slammed
snot), and hand pump aviation gas into around as I flew between cloud layers
my O-2. and through clouds and heavy rain. Ben
It had been a great day. I performed Het requested ordnance on the firebase
visual reconnaissance, targeting as the enemy came through the wire but
(munitions selection), appropriate there was no way to get fighters on-target
in that weather.
application of ordnance, air traffic control,
Squadron patch. (Photo courtesy of Stephen And then there was no response on
ground party coordination, tactical air
Eells.) their frequency. Their radio or antenna
control, plusmanaged a stack of fighters,
could have been knocked out or--as the
conducted BDA, counseled/placated
eternal optimist I was thinking--maybe
of my 14, and my fuel gauge indicating fighter pilots, strengthened international
they escaped into the jungle. The painful
about an hour remaining, I turned toward relations, controlled the aircraft outside reality was probably that they were
Pleiku very happy with the day’s mission. technical order (TO--flight manual) overtaken or would be shortly.
Alpha was eager to get to the target and boundaries, fired rockets, managed A couple of days later we got the
conduct BDA. Ben Het was grateful for multi-frequency communications, official word that Ben Het fell. Based
our taking out the enemy five klicks from utilized OPSEC/COMSEC, provided on the irritation that Ben Het had caused
the firebase and not at the wire. HUMINT, applied local area knowledge, the North, I am sure there was no mercy
During the trip “home,” I needed to etc. Fortunately, I did not have to demonstrated when the firebase was
transcribe all the info on the windows in perform survival techniques, self aid, overrun. This loss was a sharp pain to me
grease pencil to paper so I could take it aircraft battle damage measures, troops but only a prelude the heavy, deep, dull
to debrief. The strikes were fresh in my in contact techniques, CSAR or Sandy ache of losing 58,000 Americans in this
mind so I would start with one, and write roles for fighters, etc. conflict.
as much as I remembered, and then look It was a day like many, but not like Within another year and a half,
up and check if I missed anything. This most. Fortunately for me, even on days the mighty giant, the US of A, lost this
resulted in some periods when I probably where ground fire was more intense irregular war – our strategy and plans
spent too much time heads-down and and measures required to survive were were not effective against guerrillas,
not enough time clearing, but I could significantly more necessary, I did not subversives, insurgents, and assassins
hear when Oscar Duck decided to climb become a data point on the wrong side of who ambushed and infiltrated; we lost to
or descend and any aircraft in my area the statistics – of a squadron of about 60 a perseverance that eroded and exhausted
had to check in with me. After one such pilots, in the 365 days I spent assigned to the will of our nation, and we lost due
heads-down period I looked up and two the 20 TASS we lost 15 of our comrades to politicians constraining and directing
A-1s were in close formation with me, ,or 25%. On many missions, I used diving the military. Fortunately the lessons
and jinking to avoid fire and returned to learned were not forgotten and have
one on each wing. Without ordnance and
base with my share of battle damaged provided significant positive impact on
with flaps down they could actually fly as
aircraft , but through good choices and our military and civilian activities over
slow as the O-2.
lots of luck I was able to enjoy the ride to the last decade and a half.
It was Spider 51, the A-1s I had just
the USA on the “freedom bird” in a seat,
worked. When they saw me look up they
not in a body bag.
called and said that they would meet me The next day provided a hangover
at the Tigerhound bar in about an hour (from one-on-one). We also got Alpha’s About the Author: Steve Eells retired from
and we would drink “one-on-one” to detailed BDA which indicated at least active duty USAF in 1993 with nearly 200
celebrate the great mission. I said roger 50 enemy, several vehicles and trailers, combat sorties, 598 combat flight hours,
and they accelerated toward Pleiku. How ammo, supplies, machine guns, and and 4333 military flight hours in the C-141,
they got the idea of one-on-one applied 23mm AAA. Ben Het added another O-2A, KC-135, and HC-130 (AFSOC and
to drinking I have no idea. But I did USCG). His 37 military decorations include
defeat to the VC and NVA’s attempt to
know when it happened Lead and the the Distinguished Flying Cross, seven
take over this remote part of Vietnam. Air Medals, and the Republic of Vietnam
FAC would have a beer and we would Evidently the leadership in the Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star. Steve is
drink it down together – as in chug. Then North grew tired and angry over these currently a USAF civilian and Deputy Chief
the wingman would want to do it. Thank losses and during the next Monsoon of Operations Training, HQ AFSOC.

36 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │Summer 2013 www.aircommando.org

 Introduction
These are reflections and “ramblings” I have posted as my status on Facebook
for the last three years of what it is like for me to be an “Air Commando”. I
was asked to document them and share a rare insight into our own Special
Operations Community but more importantly I feel an obligation to convey to
civilians the message of the “Quiet Professionals” and an inside view of the
mission so they can fully appreciate the magnitude of our culture, dedication,
sacrifices and the mental toughness of what it takes to be an “Air Commando.”
I view any military service as honorable and appreciate the sacrifices made
as well and I am grateful for their service, however these writings reflect and
document the pride, tenacity, devotion to duty and loyalty of the operators,
maintainers, support and the families that truly sets us apart from others
within the US military. These vignettes are not necessarily in any chronological
order.

Mission a thoroughbred and she didn’t take Or to fly over a school and watch the
I walked up to her with a slow stride lightly to being abused or humiliated, kids and teachers jump and down and
admiring her as she was over 90 feet yet many times she did for the sake of squeal with delight. They were in awe of
of steel and aluminum and I carefully a mission. Nearly every time she would what was surely America’s finest. They
stepped inside and laid my flight gear perform flawlessly, but sometimes didn’t realize that an elite force of special
against the bulkhead towards the front of even thoroughbreds have an off day. operators were overhead. That didn’t
her with the deepest respect. I admired her, So as a precaution we all meticulously matter or shouldn’t have. The difference
she was magnificent yet temperamental, investigated and inspected during was we could actually see their faces and
and bristling with advanced avionics and preflight and implored her to give us an they could see ours when we happily
weapons she was in essence a beast. I uneventful night. That really didn’t seem waved back.
would start by courting her and say, “You to matter, she was her own woman. For Over the years there were many
and I have been together a long time, and over 20 years I would always ask her...”Is nights we were shot at by small
I love your makeover from slick to Pave this going to be a good night or a bad arms, RPGs, AAA etc. Most of the time
Low, you are so beautiful.” one?” She remained silent as if it was for the threat never even came close, we
She was a familiar friend as I walked her to know and you to find out. If she just nonchalantly continued on our route
around and touched her gently and was in a bad mood we often found out to do our mission. I respected the fire
whispered to her and asked, “Are you the hard way. discipline of our gunners on board. They
going to be naughty today or a good I used to love flying cross country would report it as we dashed through the
girl?” “You are so perfect but I need to in an MH53 Pave Low, particularly night to accomplish our objective and
check you out.” Climbing up, I dropped in a large formation. We flew very low even though they were ready to engage,
all her panels and looked inside and so when we crossed America’s heartland they would simply just let it go when
inspected. It was all good, so I closed her we made an impact and literally touched the threat wasn’t even close to hurting
panels to make sure they were secure as I people’s lives and caused a stir. I loved us. Everyone knew it was better to not
stroked her and traced my fingers across leaning against my .50 Cal or 7.62mm do anything at all because it gave away
her just to reassure. minigun and watch a farmer on a tractor our position and possibly compromise
The MH-53 Pave Low is a beast, and take his hat off and wave it wildly at us. the mission. We could have easily cut the

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threat into ribbons, but that just wasn’t my oldest daughter Katie would always is why I fought for this country.
our style. That’s what separates a special wake up to join me. She would ask me, Most people think Special Ops is
operator from the conventional forces “Where are you going Daddy?” I would all about taking out the bad guys,
and I’m proud of that. say “To a distant place,” as she would it’s true we are, but we are also about
quietly slip her own personal belongings building communities, helping orphans,
The Culture such as bears and toys into my bag. I and bonding with the people. Giving
In the late 90s, I had the opportunity continued to pack my gear… then she people a chance with fresh water, food,
to meet the most extraordinary man I would ask, “To do what?” I said, “To medical supplies and training so we can
ever met. He was a Navy aviator assigned take care of some bad guys doing bad gain a level of trust, to teach them to fend
to our squadron, the 20th SOS. Because things.” She replied, “That’s good...isn’t for themselves. Not what the country
of his linguistic skills, he was sent on it?” I said, “Yes it is.” She pondered then perceives about Special Ops, but in
a mission to train in Central America. said, “Do you feel strong?” I said, “Yes reality, this is what we really are about. It
During that mission, he crashed and lost Katie, I do.” She said, “Well, I don’t feel makes America look good and we get to
his leg. He limped back home to us, his so strong, Daddy please don’t GO!” I feel good about it in the process.
road to recovery was hard. He still wanted gently cradled her cheeks, kissed her and
to fly and didn’t believe he was done. said “I will be home before you know Redemption and Gratitude
He came to me and asked respectfully, it baby girl.” This was played out time I’m grateful for the service of all that
“MSgt Anderson would you help me after time, yet she still married into it. choose a higher calling, not for profit
show the flight surgeons that I can egress I’m proud of her and her strength. or wealth, or prestige. They stepped up
(leave) an aircraft quickly?” I said, “Sure Someone important to me inspired and answered the call that others would
sir, I can do that.” So my task was to film this message. The wives of Special not. They know the word sacrifice and
him punching out of an MH-53 Pave Operators are as important as the have lived it more than any normal
Low cockpit which he did successfully operators doing the mission. They have person should have to. God bless all
and then his only requirement was to no idea where you are, they have no idea veterans of all services. You have many
run a 100 ft. He did but his leg began what you are doing, all they know is stories to tell and when no one wants to
to twist and turn and it fell off. He sat that it is important. When the plumbing listen, I’ll listen because I can relate.
down on the ramp exhausted. I ran up breaks, they deal with it; when the You paid your price and you paid
to him and sat down beside him gunned lawnmower breaks, they deal with it. your dues, I’m grateful to you and your
and said, “That was really cool sir; can They spend countless hours explaining families that suffered and endured. There
we try another shot of you not losing to the children why you are not there for is nothing happy about Veteran’s Day so
your leg this time?” He grinned and said them and deal with it, yet immediately don’t wish it. It is a day of remembrance
“Yeah, I can do that.” We embraced each run to the assistance of other families and thanking those who chose the high
other. He went on to make Colonel and in times of crisis with the same ferocity road and a day for honoring patriots and
had a distinguished career in Special and dedication of the mission. Special great Americans who were willing to risk
Operations and will forever be the most Operations wives and in some cases now their lives, so you can have yours.
courageous man I have ever met. husbands, are my heroes! In 1996 I was deployed to San Vito,
I remember arriving back at Many people don’t understand Italy to support operations in Bosnia.
Jacobabad, Pakistan from Kandahar, Special Operations, that’s okay, we I was on what was considered a “hard
Afghanistan after 60 grueling days of don’t expect them to. I will tell you this, crew”. Hard crew meant you would fly
combat missions every night and living there are men and women willing to risk or die with the dice you’d been rolled
on nothing but Meals Ready Eat (MREs), it all, not for glory, not for medals. They and didn’t have the luxury of swapping
the squadron had made preparations are willing to put it all on the line just out with more capable crew members to
for our arrival. That night I ate in one for you, 24/7. They don’t fret over if it’s create the ultimate “A Team.”
sitting; 2 T -bones, 2 baked potatoes, 3 right or wrong, they don’t fret over the That’s the way it works in Special
lobster tails, rolls with butter, 2 hefty ramifications, they just do it because Operations you mixed experience with
helpings baked beans and 2 helpings of disgrace and failure in the eyes of our youth but they weren’t just any youth,
salad washed down with Jack Daniels country is never an option. they had earned their way. It was a good
(we weren’t supposed to have that). At I pondered at the 27 years of sacrifice system because the under achievers or
the end, I looked like a rope with a knot and the accolades on my wall that are the inexperienced had the opportunity
tied in it. We were really good at hooking testimony. Memories flooded my brain to raise the bar and many times they
each other up and welcoming each other and sadly I realized even though I have surprised us by either meeting or
back from the dark hole. That was the the fire inside, I’m no longer half the exceeding our expectations. It didn’t
Pave Low legacy in a nutshell - there man I used to be and it made me sad. At matter if it was Pilot, Flight Engineer or
was always a friendly face waiting on the that precise moment there was a gentle Gunner, most rose to the occasion and
other side....our brothers. tug on my arm...and a tiny voice pierced flourished to teach others our path and
It would be 0200 am and I would the silence. “Daddy can I eat these our ways.
be packing my gear to deploy and marshmallows before they go bad?” That On a bleak, cold and dreary day, our

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crew was brought into the TOC, briefed more song.” He weakly smiled back and promptly perches beside me and says,
and slated for an immediate mission to said, “Sing on Son.” I knew in my heart “You will fail tonight, you will not win!”
recover the possible downing of two he wasn’t going to make it, I went home I replied, “Yes I will demon, it’s not
French pilots who were unaccounted after hours of being by him and caring your night and I will fight you forever,
for. I took notes and immediately went for him, I just had to sleep. When I woke with all my might.” With an intense face
into planning mode; equipment, flight in the morning, I received the call he had he pressed his against mine, and with
routes, terrain, weather, and threats. I was passed. peering eyes he uttered, “I have patience,
pumped and ready to execute. I was crushed and heartbroken, yet it’s just a matter of time.” He exclaimed,
We were released to go back into my first thought was my crew, their lives. “You’ve cheated me quite often my little
crew rest and wait for the mission. Then I One may think that Special Operations friend, but your soul is mine and I will be
got an unexpected call from my brother, I would be the primary focus and the there for the end.”
thought, how in the world did he possibly mission would be to damn your personal Randy Anderson -2011
find me? He said, “Red Cross, Dad life and to always achieve national
isn’t doing well, he’s in the hospital.” I objectives and damn the personal costs. Humor
snickered, “What’s wrong with him this Well that is true, however we always Everyone eventually got labeled
time?” My brother replied, “It’s serious found a way to mitigate it where another with a nickname, a common practice
Randy, can you come home?” I held the brother would step up when someone in all the squadrons, either maintenance
phone in stunned silence, and thought was in need and understood, and after all or operations. The designated name
about the words and said, “Yes, I suppose we are human and regular people. The generally would stick with them
so but this had better be real.” He quietly point is, we never failed our mission, and throughout their careers and the tag was
replied, “It’s real.” I hung up the phone we always achieved national objectives often awarded as a result of a particular
trying to comprehend was it worth it, without fail. For an afterthought, Captain event, episode or their own demeanor.
I’d been through this drama with Dad Brad Webb is now Major General Webb Many tried to name themselves to
before. I quietly sat down in the barracks and was sitting beside President Obama avoid an unpalatable name but it didn’t
hallway alone, Icradled my face and during the raid to kill Osama Bin Laden. always work that way unless it fit their
thought over how conflicted I was. Soon Our entire Special Operations personality, only then would we make
my aircraft commander, Captain Brad community is incredibly tight knit concessions.
Webb, approached me and said, “Randy and family oriented, we have always Many folk’s names were just
I heard serious things are going on with worked around issues and problems and too hard to pronounce, so we would
you, the crew will be fine, you must go we always found a way to make it work. unceremoniously truncate their names,
home to be with your Dad.” We did that because there were so many and they just resigned themselves to
I replied to Captain Webb, “No of us good enough or better to easily the fact that’s the way it was going to
f***ing way sir, I have an obligation step in where needed. We supported be forever. Colorful names that in many
to you and the crew.” He spoke quietly, each other and in the end achieved cases are known throughout the special
yet firmly and said “Randy, you have outstanding results, the point was we operations community at large and
an obligation to your family and they never complained, we just executed. laughingly enough used by their own
always come first. You are going home.” Redemption - I rest my chin on my spouses to identify their husband! We
My shoulders slumped and I said, “Yes weapon tonight, I did my job I did used nicknames so often, the memory
sir but the mission, we are on alert, we what’s right. I’ve done wondrous things of what their real names were began to
can’t just go changing things around!” no one else would do, I paid my price, blur. Interesting names such as Taco,
Captain Webb looked into my eyes, I paid my dues. My eyes have seen Paco, Opie, Rainman, Mad Jack, Gordo,
and said, “We’ll make it work Randy; burning cities, atrocities and war, and Devil Dawg, Meat, BK, Circus Monkey,
chances are it won’t happen anyway.” I witnessed things most would deplore. I Turtle, L+11, Pink, Tex, Shooter, Twister,
pounded my fists on the floor thinking of awake each morning and step to the floor, Lefty, Chemo, Pokey, Slo Jo, FLIR Ball
the disappointment of potentially missing my conscious is clear, because it was and countless others too numerous or
the mission of a lifetime. But I listened war. It is not your concern I danced with inappropriate to mention in this forum,
and agreed with Captain Webb and began the devil at night, it’s not your problem, flood to mind.
to make the preparations to travel back to it’s not your fight. I need no showers Ah yes, the famous Round Metallic
Tennessee. of accolades, awards or credit, I did it Object (RMO), the Squadron Coin.
I arrived at my destination and for you America...now I said it. Randy Where you to be caught without one
hurried to the hospital to find my father Anderson-2011 in a bar would not only be considered
dying. I saw the look on his face and the A Special Operations, MH-53 Pave an act of heresy, but outright bad form.
relief in his eyes just one more time. We Low Lament - The night is dark, The procedure was simple, anyone who
shared much of ourselves and we talked the stars are dim, the moon is without initiated a coin check would slap their
of everything before he passed. I even face, my mood is grim. Peering through coin out on a wooden surface in an
sang to him, which he said stop! I smiled darkness I look into the sky and a demon
and said, “Okay Daddy, I just have one appears and gazes into my eyes. He continued on page 41

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Mission
To Haiti
By Maj (Ret) Dave White

On 13 September 1994, as a preparatory event leading up

to the planned invasion of Haiti, the 15th Special Operations
Squadron was tasked to plan a PSYOPS leaflet drop on Port-
Au-Prince. 15 SOS Crew 1 was assigned to the mission,the
first combat mission flown by the squadron since reactivation
and equipping with the MC-130H Combat Talon II in October
1992.
We planned the mission on 14 September for execution on to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, sowe flew our IFR clearance on
the night of 15/16 September. We were briefed on the results airways southbound. Enroute, we were advised that Haitian
of the first leaflet mission over Haiti, flown using standard high air defense units had been cleared to “fire at will” at intruding
altitude leaflet drop tactics. We were told that target coverage aircraft. (Later, we heard that another aircraft had already made
was not optimum, due to unpredictable winds over the island. an appearance over the island. It didn’t drop anything, and
We therefore determined that a low altitude airdrop over the city nobody ever admitted who it was or what it was doing. It did,
was necessary to insure target saturation, as well as to enhance however, serve to alert the pertinent AAA gun crews.) We did
the psychological effect of the mission. To insure accurate an in-flight refueling north of Cuba, and IFR was terminated
wind information and minimize warning to air defenses, the south of Great Inagua. We began our descent on the standard
ingress over the Gulf of Gonave was planned for extreme low Guantanamo arrival around the east end of Cuba, turning west
altitude, varying from 50 to 200 feet. Two passes over the city and descending. We flew the initial part of the Guantanamo
were planned, with a drop altitude of 500 feet. The first pass arrival for deception purposes, descending to less than 1000
would begin with coast-in just east of the Navy base on the feet. When the EWO advised that we were below radar
southwest edge of the city, followed by a sweeping turn to the coverage, we turned hard left onto the easterly ingress route.
northeast. This would cover the eastern and southern portions Inbound to Haiti, and south of Gonave Island, we descended
of the city. The second pass would begin after completing a to 50 feet over the water, using our terrain-following systems.
wide turn to a westerly heading in the valley northeast of the We were also wearing our night-vision goggles (NVGs),
city. This pass would take us just south of the Port-Au-Prince which prevented a real mess: During the ingress, Ron Lovett,
airport and would provide coverage of the north part of the city. in the copilot seat, suddenly called for an immediate pull-up,
No air threat was expected, as the Haitian air force consisted of which I did without hesitation, to say the least. When I looked
a single airworthy Cessna 172. However, small arms and AAA up from the TF displays, a large white wooden three-mast
up to 40 mm was expected. All crew members were provided sailing ship was directly ahead. The terrain-following system
standard side arms, body armor, and survival gear. had not seen its non-metallic structure, and Ron’s warning
On 15 September, we flew to Pope AFB to onload prevented an early end to the mission. I’ve always wondered
the leaflets and Army personnel, who would assist with the what the occupants of the ship thought as our blacked-out Herk
airdrops. Just before takeoff from Hurlburt Field, we were thundered overhead at less than 200 feet.
advised that a 40mm anti-aircraft weapon had been positioned Continuing the ingress, we coasted in at 500 feet AGL. We
to the south of the city on a ridge line. Initially, this appeared released our first leaflets at this time, with the naval base as the
to impact our coast-in point and first pass. However, the EWO target. This was a late change to the mission, added because
determined that the probable position of the weapon was such we had received an intelligence update that Raoul Cedras,
that the gun crew could not depress the barrel sufficiently to the leader of the military junta, was spending the night at the
accurately target the aircraft until we were at a safe distance. Navy base for security reasons. We felt that our leaflets would
We therefore chose not to alter our target plan. After an provide an effective psychological blow if in fact he was there,
uneventful flight to Pope AFB, we arrived and successfully and we changed the drop plan accordingly. We then performed
onloaded the leaflets and personnel. a left turn to the northeast, and flew over the eastern half of the
We departed Pope AFB after final mission approval was city, dropping leaflets continually. These were targeted for the
received. Our plan was mimic a normal C-130 supply flight main downtown areas of Port-Au-Prince, and were dispersedby

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the prevailing easterly winds. During preparation for the long ride home. To Crew 1, 15th Special Operations
this pass, static lines whipped back into make the second in-flight refueling a bit Squadron (Ranks shown are those on
the cargo compartment and entangled more interesting, Ron Lovett bet me the the date of the mission):
one of the loadmasters, Rusty Fine. In price of beers for the crew that I could
the process of freeing him, the static not complete it without illuminating Maj Dave White, Aircraft Commander
lines pulled a set of NVGs off Mike any intermediate position lights on the LtC Ron Lovett, Pilot (15 SOS Commander)
Clevenger’s helmet and they departed receiver director array--not an easy task Capt Jim Kellogg, Pilot
the aircraft. The goggles fell, apparently given the lateness of the hour, the post- Maj Chuck Gantert, Navigator
harmlessly, into an unknown area of the airdrop letdown, and the crew’s jovial Capt John VanDerHoven, Navigator
city. efforts to “assist” with the task at hand.
Capt Mike Fallert, Electronic Warfare Officer
After crossing the northern outskirts The refueling was completed (I won the
MSgt Mike Clevenger, Flight Engineer
of the city, we flew the short pattern bet) and we proceeded to recovery at
SMSgt Dave Sloan, Flight Engineer
to position for our final run. This was Hurlburt, having flown 11.4 hours in all.
made to cover the north side of the No aircraft damage or crew injuries were CMSgt Taco Sanchez, Loadmaster
city, particularly the airport area. On sustained. After taking a crew picture and MSgt Dave Fredricksen, Loadmaster
this run, we noted the city lights being completing a debrief with the intelligence Sgt Larry Fine, Loadmaster
extinguished, block by block. The shop, we were released to go home with Msgt Manuel Ochoa, Direct Support Operator
loadmasters reported light ground fire instructions to return to plan our next
from small arms in the area of Port- mission, expected to take place the night
Au-Prince airport. All the tracers were after the upcoming invasion.
behind the aircraft, so we took no evasive Driving home after the 20 hour crew
action. Upon completion of this run, with day, I fell sound asleep twice. However, About the Author: Dave White was a
all boxes expended, we egressed over the my fatigue disappeared when I got home crewdog in the 1st, 8th, and 15th SOS,
flying MC-130s until retirement in 1995. To
gulf on a westbound heading. Time over and turned on CNN to see one of our
avoid a staff job, he was also Chief Pilot for
target was less than ten minutes, although leaflets lyingin a Port-Au-Prince street.
the Operational Test and Evaluation of the
it seemed like more than thirty. The news reported complete coverage MC-130H at Edwards AFB. He currently flies
Exiting the gulf, a climb to enroute of the target areas. It was the only time Boeing 777s when absolutely necessary,
altitude was initiated and the crew I ever failed in my career goal of staying and real airplanes (a Piper PA-12 and a
removed their combat equipment in off CNN, but I wasn’t too upset about it. Libelle glider) for fun.

Reflections of an Air Commando continued from page 39

open challenge, immediately subjecting you to the infamous
Kangaroo Court where all participants are viewed equally
unless exposed for their violation. Punishment levied was stiff
and the fine was heavy, followed by disdain and disapproval
by your peers. It was a hard lesson learned but particularly it
■ Custom C4ISR Systems and Services was your wallet that felt the most impact.
■ Wide-Area Airborne Surveillance Years ago I went through USAF Survival School. We were
going through the prisoner of war phase. 14 of us were
crammed inside a small box and the weight was crushing. We
were all trying to not hurt each other. There was a Sgt and his
face was pressed close to mine. His name was Dave Long, who
eventually became a special operator and still is a very special
friend of mine today. His face was pressed against mine. Soon
he started to giggle, then he began to laugh causing many of
us discomfort because he was a pretty big guy! He looked in
my eyes while we were in that cramped pile and said to me,
“I could kiss you right now and you couldn’t do a thing about
it.” He was right, my arms and legs were pinned and I was
completely immobilized. Our noses were one inch from each
other and we both began to laugh. I said, “Dave if you kiss me,
I will kill you dead.” All of us erupted in laughter which didn’t
11211 East Arapahoe Road please the instructors.
Centennial, CO 80112
Ph: 303-795-0604
www.sncorp.com
[email protected] About the Author: Randy Anderson, CMSgt, USAF retired, MH-53
Flight Engineer.

www.aircommando.org Summer 2013 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │ 41

 Aircraft of the First World War generally had inherently Anthony Fokker and Hugo Junkers) both improved aircraft
short-takeoff-and-landing capabilities, being lightly loaded to performance and permitted internally-braced cantilever wing
take quickly to the air. Even so, by today’s standards, any aircraft design which enabled development of streamlined monoplanes
of the First World War period was considerably underpowered. with either wood (as favored by Fokker) or metal (as favored
(The Morane-Saulnier Type L, for example, had only an 80-hp by Junkers) structures.
rotary engine, giving it only a 72 mph top speed). They also As aircraft design and performance advanced, however, the
had inherently weak structures and the aforementioned limited need to compensate for increased takeoff and landing distances
payload capacity, whiletheir profusion of drag-producing as well as higher takeoff and landing speeds stimulated
struts and wires—a necessity given their thin wood-and-fabric development of new lift-and-controllability-enhancing
wings—gave them surprisingly high sink rates and dangerous devices. Foremost among these were the wing flap,slot, and
low-speed departure and stall characteristics. The advent of slat. Wing flaps initially appeared during the First World War
thick-wing aerodynamics (typified initially by designs from on British and French aircraft produced by Thomas Sopwith,

42 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │Summer 2013 www.aircommando.org

 By Dr. Richard P. Hallion

Special operations have traditionally required aircraft

possessing an ability to operate under austere, even
primitive, conditions. Among these requirements has
been, typically, the need to take off and land from very
short strips or minimally-improved terrain. For this
reason, Short-Takeoff-and-Landing (STOL), and Vertical-
Takeoff-and-Landing (VTOL) have figured prominently in
SOF warfare, even from the earliest days of aviation.

French airmen pioneered aerial special operations

during the First World War. Their country was partially
occupied by invading German forces and, thus,
French military and intelligence authorities needed
to establish resistance cells and insert and extract
intelligence agents operating behind German lines. As
early as November 1914, less than three months after
the onset of the war, the French Service Aéronautique
(predecessor of today’s French Air Force) began landing
agents from the 2e Bureau (the “Second Bureau,”
France’s secret intelligence service) behind German
lines. Though various aircraft were eventually used, the
A Morane-Saulnier Type L “parasol”
monoplane, the type first used for “Great initial type favored was the two-seat parasol-winged
War” covert air operations. (Photo courtesy of Morane-Saulnier Type L monoplane, a multipurpose
Richard P. Hallion)
aircraft that achieved notable success both as a
reconnaissance aircraft, light attack airplane, and even
fighter. The first of these “missions spéciales” was
flown on November 18, 1914, when Lt. Armand Pinsard
of Escadrille MS 23 took off from Amiens, landing an
agent behind German lines north of Albert.

www.aircommando.org Summer 2013 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │ 43

 The Curtiss Tanager on a established an experimental airway service on the West Coast,
short-takeoff test during the and undertook fundamental research on aviation problems,
Guggenheim International Safe
leading, most notably, to invention of the first blind-flying
Airplane Competition. DGF
Photograph instrumentation and the first successful blind flight (by famed
aviator Jimmy Doolittle) on September 24, 1929.
The Guggenheims also wanted to reduce the rising aircraft
accident rate caused by low-speed loss of control. Various
international experts recommended exploring the technology
of the flap and slat, and, also, that of the autogiro, a predecessor
of the helicopter. Accordingly, the Fund sponsored a design
competition, holding a fly-off among various entrants in 1929.
The winner was the Curtiss Tanager, which incorporated a
number of the advances discussed previously. The Guggenheim
International Safe Airplane Competition, highlighting the value
of nascent STOL technology via competing demonstrators,
established an international design standard for subsequent
production of STOL aircraft designs.
By the mid-1930s, the growing power and reliability
of smaller piston engines, coupled with the advent of the
controllable-pitch propeller and the Fowler flap (a flap design
that, by deploying aft and downwards, increased the area as
well as the camber of a wing) meant that STOL aircraft could
be designed for more practical application to both civil and
military tasks. Two that achieved great success in the SOF
role were Germany’s inline-engine Fieseler Fi 156 Storch
(“Stork”), and Britain’s radial-engine Westland Lysander.
Charles Fairey, and Louis Breguet. By changing the camber Of the two, the Storch is best-known, having served as
of the wing, the flap increased the wing’s lifting power, with a ubiquitous battlefront transport for German military leaders
the tradeoff of imparting greater drag as well. The fixed wing and with a variety of air forces and army air arms. Designed
slot, which soon led to the extensible wing slat, was a British- by Gerhard Fieseler, a well-known interwar German aerobatic
German invention, most closely associated with designs by pilot, the tube-and-fabric Storch first flew in 1936. Thanks
Frederick Handley Page and Gustav Lachmann (they later to full-span slats, flaps, and drooping ailerons, a long-stroke
combined their efforts). As angle of attack increased, the landing gear, adjustable horizontal stabilizer, and a bulged
slot (and more refined slat) controlled the flow of air over a cockpit enabling an observer to look directly downwards, it
wing, keeping it “attached” to the surface and thus delaying delivered superlative performance. Such was its utility that
the flow separation that presages a stall, whereby the wing it proved far more successful than its more powerful rival,
ceases producing lift altogether. The combination of the the high-wing Henschel Hs 126. Powered by a 240-hp Argus
wing flap and wing slat promised to permit steeper, slower inline engine, the lightly-loaded Storch could fly at 109 mph,
descents and steeper climb-outs. Assisting further were other but land so slowly that, given any sort of headwind, it could
technical developments such as long-stroke landing gear struts stop in a space no greater than its own 47-ft wingspan. A total
(to permit higher-impact landings), adjustable horizontal of nearly 2,900 were produced in Germany and Romania, as
stabilizers which (in conjunction with the elevator) enhanced well as in Czechoslovakia and France while those two nations
pitch control, and so-called “drooped” ailerons which could were occupied by Nazi forces. French models, many produced
complement the lift-enhancing camber-changing flaps. after the war with radial engines, were manufactured by
All of these technological innovations (and subsequent Morane-Saulnier and known as the Criquet (“Cricket”), and
ones such as the controllable-pitch propeller and the advent saw extensive use in Indochina.
of higher-performance inline and radial piston engines) would
contribute greatly to making the STOL-SOF partnership
a success. First, however, a showcase demonstration was
necessary.
This occurred finally in 1929-1930, enabled by The
Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics
International Safe Airplane Competition, held at Mitchel Field,
Long Island. The Guggenheim Fund, a private philanthropic
endeavor established in 1926 by mining magnate Daniel
Guggenheim and his naval aviator son Harry, endowed
schools of aeronautical engineering across the United States,
The stalky Fieseler Storch was, in its time,
the finest STOL aircraft in the world.
www.aircommando.org
44 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │Summer 2013 (Photo courtesy of the National Museum of USAF)
 A Fieseler Storch in typically austere conditions.
(Photo courtesy of the National Museum of USAF)

The Storch served as an executive transport for a airplane afterwards).

succession of notable Germany military leaders, including Personally demonstrated in America by Fieseler at the
Field Marshals Guderian, Kesselring, and Rommel. Captured 1938 Cleveland Air Races, the Storch inspired a U.S. Army
examples were reconditioned and then used by the Allies for liaison aircraft competition to produce an American equivalent.
the same purpose! The Storch is best known for its pivotal The competition resulted in the two-seat Stinson O-49 Vigilant
role in extracting overthrown Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (later redesignated the Vultee L-1 Vigilant), which made
from captivity, and for the last flight out of Berlin in 1945. its first flight in July 1940. Like the Storch, the Vigilant had
Mussolini’s government had collapsed in late July 1943, extraordinary low-speed capabilities. Full-span flaps, slats,
following the Allied invasion of Sicily. Anti-Fascist army and drooping ailerons enabled it to fly as slow as 31 mph. A
officers took him into custody and transported him to an island, rugged landing gear absorbed high sink-rate landing loads, and
and then, fearing he might escape, to the Campo Imperatore, its sloped cockpit panels enhanced the pilot’s and observer’s
a ski resort located 2000 metres high in the Gran Sasso, a ground view. Some were modified with floats, and others
mountainous region in central Italy. Mussolini arrived at the were modified for casualty evacuation, but most were used
resort-turned-prison at the end of August. German intelligence for liaison, artillery observation, general transport, and covert
learned of his location, and Hitler ordered Otto Skorzeny, an agent insertion and extraction. In 1943, the L-1 was selected for
Austrian SS officer who served as chief of his special forces, to “Project 9” (the then-top secret plan for an aerial invasion of
organize a rescue. Skorzeny assembled a crack team of German Burma that marked the birth of the Air Commandos) because
paratroopers, undertaking a glider insertion on September 12. it could carry up to three stretchers while operating out of
When a planned extraction by a helicopter had to be abandoned rough strips as short as 500 feet long. (Subsequently, because
after the rotorcraft broke down, Skorzeny and Mussolini were too few L-1s were available, the Project 9 light plane force
then flown out in a Storch, which delivered them to Practica was augmented by more numerous L-5 Sentinels, though the
di Mare airfield, from whence the deposed Italian dictator was Sentinel could only carry a single casualty, and needed almost
flown to Munich. In late April 1945, Hanna Reitsch, a fanatical twice the takeoff distance).
supporter of the Hitler regime, flew a Storch into Berlin, Undoubtedly, Britain’s ungainly Westland Lysander
landing in the Tiergarten amid Soviet artillery fire, to deliver was the best-known and most significant of Allied STOL
Field Marshal Robert Ritter von Greim, the last commander aircraft in the Second World War. A high-wing two-place
of the Luftwaffe, to meet with Hitler. (They left in a different “army cooperation” airplane designed by W.E.W. Petter, the

www.aircommando.org Summer 2013 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │ 45

The Vultee L-1 Vigilant, an excellent STOL general brought out for their own safety, or later
purpose light monoplane, flew on Operation reinsertion. Missions were flown from
Thursday, the March 1944 Allied air invasion of
England across the Channel, but also
Burma. (Photo courtesy of the National Museum of USAF)
from islands in the Mediterranean (and,
later in the war, in the Far East as well).
In the course of these missions,
Lysanders operated at night into
improvised strips (often no more than
clearings or a farmers’ fields);guided
by torches or hastily lit flare-pots, pilots
navigated by compass and stopwatch,
and navigated by reflected light from
railroads and waterways. The risk to
pilots and passengers was extreme,
with the German military comprising
only one such threat. Of all missions
Lysander had an unusual trapezoidal machine gun on a flexible mount in the flown, it is estimated that two-thirds
wing planform which, when viewed rear cockpit. were successful--success being defined
from above or below, revealed it to A total of 1,425 Lysanders were as agent insertion or extraction , or
have pronounced taper on its inboard manufactured in Britain and a further delivery of special cargo. Rugged
leading edge, a straight inboard trailing 225 in Canada, and it served with a Lysanders survived collisions with
edge, and then a straight outboard variety of air forces including, in small trees, buildings, and power lines. Pilots
leading edge and tapered outboard numbers, the U.S. Army Air Force. successfully coped with glutinous mud
trailing edge. Additionally, the wing Ironically, though used as an Army while taxiing, takeoff, and landing, and,
had its maximum thickness-chord battlefield reconnaissance aircraft in one case, with German forces closing
ratio at mid-span, its inner section early in the war, it primarily performed in so rapidly than an agent leapt up the
being increasingly thin (in a fashion other duties, including air-sea rescue ladder, yelling at his pilot to “Get the
analogous to, but even more than, and as a target towingg. But it is best hell out of here, quick!”
America’s contemporaneous Stinson remembered as a covert insertion and On the Russian front, Soviet airmen
Reliant) down to the wing-fuselage extraction aircraft, flow by selected employed light aircraft to support
root. This configuration gave the pilot Royal Air Force crews to support the partisan operations behind German
and observer excellent visibility, but activities of the SOE (Special Operations lines. While none of the aircraft types
complicated its leading edge slat design Executive) and French Resistance to they employed were, per se, “STOL”
which, unlike the Storch and Vigilant, fulfill Winston Churchill’s order to “Set designs (as compared to special
consisted of two sections (an inner Europe Ablaze.” So-called “Special purpose aircraft such as the slat-and-
and outer) on each wing panel, each Duties” Lysanders fitted with a long- flap equipped Storch, Vigilant, and
operating independently of the other. To range belly tank and left-side ladders Lysander), the Red Air Force made
alleviate the danger of outer wing panel affixed inserted 293 Resistance leaders use of light biplanes and monoplanes
stall (which could trigger a potentially and Allied commandos into France, having good slow-flight capabilities.
disastrous departure), the Lysander was and extractied a total of 410 résistants Chief among these was the Polikarpov
designed so that its outer slats deployed
before the inner. Like other STOL
aircraft, it had a rugged landing gear, an The Westland Lysander, most significant and widely used of all
adjustable horizontal stabilizer, as well Allied STOL aircraft in the Second World War. (AFHRA Photograph)
as generous elevator, rudder and aileron
area, ensuring adequate and responsive
longitudinal (pitch), lateral (roll), and
directional (yaw) control across its
entire speed range, from a minimum of
54 mph to a maximum of 224 mph. An
870-hp Bristol Mercury 9-cylinder air-
cooled radial engine and a three-blade
controllable-pitch propeller gave it the
power to carry over 1,900 lbs. of useful
load, including two fixed forward-firing
.303 cal. Browning machine guns, and
(on early aircraft), a single .303 Lewis

46 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │Summer 2013 www.aircommando.org

 The de Havilland of Canada U-6A Beaver, bottom of narrow valleys surrounded
while not extensively used by the USAF, by steep cliffs. Some measure of the
was nevertheless a significant participant
value of the Pioneer is given by the
in remote and rough-field operations. (Photo
courtesy of the National Museum of USAF) record of just three aircraft which, over
one year, flew over 1,000 passengers
and delivered 100,000 lbs. of cargo in
the course of 1,200 sorties. The bigger
and more capable “Twin Pin,” which
also had three vertical fins and rudders
(like the far more graceful Lockheed
Constellation), enabled air supply and
support operations into areas that could
not be serviced by larger Dakota (C-47)
and equivalent aircraft, and, as well,
was occasionally armed to undertake
light strike duties itself. Less successful
Po-2 biplane, roughly equivalent in and air rescue, using wheel, float, and was the American trimotor Northrop
performance to the American Stearman ski undercarriages. Powered by the YC-125 Raider, an ambitious assault
PT-17 or the Waco UPF-7, as well as the solidly reliable Pratt & Whitney R-985 transport and utility aircraft optimized
larger and more powerful Polikarpov 450-hp radial engine, the Beaver was for Arctic operations to counter Soviet
R-5, a prewar reconnaissance and light regarded with great affection and trust northern forces, but built only in small
attack biplane. Soviet airmen were by those who flew it and in it. numbers. The Raider could take off from
tasked to extract wounded or otherwise Among notable postwar designs strips less than 500 feet in length, using
incapacitated partisans, to insert agents, building upon the experience of earlier JATO assistance rockets, and could land
and to maintain communications. Soviet aircraft such as the Storch, Vigilant, and on strips less than 400 feet long, using
pilots also dropped agents, saboteurs, and Lysander were the Scottish Aviation reversible propellers.
supplies, as did larger Soviet aircraft to Pioneer, and its twin-engine successor, Far more successful was the de
include American-built C-47s supplied the Twin Pioneer. The high-wing Pioneer Havilland of Canada Caribou, examples
to Russia under Lend-Lease and the
Soviets’ own license-built version of
the DC-3, the PS-84 (more popularly
known as the Lisunov Li-2). In some
extreme cases, Soviet airmen dropped
agents into snow banks from altitudes
as low as thirty feet, the agents being
enclosed in hay-filled bags to survive
the drop! The Luftwaffe attempted to
counter these light aircraft by using light
aircraft of its own as night interceptors,
but with little success.
Wartime experience with STOL
aircraft in conventional and SOF
operations stimulated postwar STOL
aircraft design, and other general-
purpose utility aircraft which, if The Northrop YC-125B Raider. (Photo
not quite so STOL-capable as these courtesy of the National Museum of USAF)
remarkable machines, were nevertheless
very impressive in their own right.
Arguably foremost among these was and Twin Pioneer (the latter known of which still serve around the world
the ubiquitous Canadian de Havilland affectionately as the “Twin Pin”) served with various air forces, armies, and air
Beaver which proved a tremendous well in counterinsurgency operations in arms as a STOL airlifter. Originally
success both in civil and military Malaya, the Middle East, and Africa. purchased by the U.S. Army and
service, and which inspired a bigger In the Malayan counterinsurgency, placed in service as the CV-2 in 1962,
and heavier successor, the Otter. The single-engine Pioneers flew transport, the Caribou saw its greatest American
Beaver, designated L-20 and then U-6 casualty evacuation, and garrison service with the U.S. Air Force as the
in American service, served in a variety supply flights, landing as slowly as 32 C-7A, serving extensively in Southeast
of roles including light cargo and mph with full flaps into jungle strips as Asia as a supply aircraft for remote
passenger transport, reconnaissance, short as 450 feet, many located at the

www.aircommando.org Summer 2013 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │ 47

 The de Havilland of Canada C-7A Caribou became one of the iconic aircraft of
Southeast Asian air operations. (Photo courtesy of the National Museum of USAF)

bases and hamlets. Powered by two standard Piper Vagabond single-engine

1,450-hp Pratt& Whitney R-2000 radial high-wing light aircraft. The modified
engines, the Caribou was a rugged and aircraft had full-span trailing edge
adaptable aircraft, its success ensured flaps, leading edge automatic slats,
by its carefully-tailored aerodynamic and a special large-diameter broad-
and structural design. chord propeller driven by an 85-hp
In America, long-standing interest Continental piston engine. First flown
in STOL aircraft led Professor Otto secretly in April 1949, the Helioplane
Koppen of the Massachusetts Institute was both stall-and-spin-proof, and
of Technology and Lynn Bollinger of the could fly as slow as 27 ½ mph, taking
Harvard Business School to collaborate off from strips as short as sixty feet
on a new design, the Koppen-Bollinger (and on only 73 percent power). The
Helioplane, a modification of a Helioplane demonstrator led to a larger

A Helio U-10D Super Courier of the

National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
(Photo courtesy of the National Museum of USAF)

48 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │Summer 2013 www.aircommando.org

 A U-10B Courier in flight. (Photo courtesy of the National Museum of USAF)

and more capable production design, of missions including psychological helicopter; and the powerful turboprop
the Helio Courier, powered by a 260- operations. and turboshaft engines, products of
hp Lycoming engine. The success of Aircraft such as the L-20/U-6 the jet revolution birthed in the 1930s.
the Helio Courier led to its further Beaver, the Pioneer, the Twin Pioneer, These two developments would advance
refinement and evolution into the Helio the Helio Courier, the Swiss Pilatus STOL, VTOL, and SOF to their next
Super Courier, which saw extensive PC-6 Porter (in its initial inline-piston stage—but that is another story.
use as the U-10 with the military and engine form), and the CV-2/C-7 Caribou
civilian air services sponsored by the represented the pinnacle of piston-engine
Central Intelligence Agency, including STOL aircraft design, the legacy of a About the Author: Dr Richard P. Hallion
the well-known Air America, as well as half-century of aviation development was the former Air Force Historian. He
missionary workers flying into austere following the first successful flight of has also been the Curator of Space
Science and Exploration, National Air and
fields throughout the Third World. the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk in
Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution,
The military and the CIA adopted December 1903. in Washington, D.C. Dr Hallion recently
the versatile Helio Courier thanks to However remarkable their served as Senior Adviser for Air and
the legendary Heinie Aderholt, who performance, this was but a prequel Space Issues, Directorate for Security,
recognized its value for COIN and SOF to that which would be achieved by Counterintelligence and Special Programs
operations. In particular, the U-10 flew even more advanced aircraft taking Oversight, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
extensively with the 5th Air Commando advantage of two other notable mid- An accomplished author of numerous
Squadron (later 5th Special Operations century revolutions in aeronautical books and publications he continues to
Squadron) in Vietnam on a variety design: the development of the practical write and lecture on aviation.

www.aircommando.org Summer 2013 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │ 49

B ook R eviews
ON A STEEL HORSE
I RIDE: A History of
the MH-53 Pave Low
Helicopters in War
and Peace
By Darrel D. Whitcomb
Air University Press,
Montgomery, AL, 2012,
$81 or free PDF download
available at aupress.au.af.mil.

Review by Walter J. Boyne You would be hard-pressed to find a more thoroughly

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that On a Steel researched, all-encompassing work about an aircraft and its
Horse I Ride is worthy of a Pulitzer Prize based on the depth military history. Whitcomb’s book ranks with Dennis Jenkins’
and breadth of its research, the quality of its writing and the masterpiece Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space
importance of its subject. In 769 fact-filled, emotion-charged Transportation System, and definitely sets the bar much higher
pages, Darrel Whitcomb presents the 40-plus-year saga of for aviation authors.
the Sikorsky MH-53J Pave Low helicopter. Only someone This review originally appeared in the July 2013 issue of
with his combat flying experience and dedicated research Aviation History magazine, and is reprinted here with permission
capability could have written this book, and only the Air of the Weider History Group. For subscription information, call
800-435-0715 or visit www.historynet.com.
University Press would have had the good sense to publish it
in such polished form.
The MH-53J Pave Low is truly a steel horse of legendary
might, assigned to the most difficult tasks in combat, and
capable of pulling them off time after time, war after war. The
ability to do so rests of course upon the air and ground crews
that operated them, and their adaptability to new conditions,
climates and equipment.
Fielded by the Air Force Special Operations Command,
the Pave Low was used by the famous 1st Special Operations
Wing, whose motto is “Any Time, Any Place.” They were
also flown by the 58th SOW and the 352nd and 353rd Special
Operations groups in actions around the world.
Whitcomb pulls the reader into the cockpit with him
while describing the risky missions that made the Pave Low
famous. He also manages to detail the origins of the aircraft,
its serial development to meet new combat challenges and
its operational history. In lesser hands, the intricate and often
bureaucratic background to this development might be boring,
but Whitcomb makes it as interesting as the combat action.
The author lays out the life story of the Pave Low and its
operators in detail. He supplements this with six information- Foot-mobile tactical computing for precision
filled appendices, a useful list of abbreviations, a 24-page targeting, C4ISR, situational awareness, and
bibliography of impressive depth and a detailed index. The other mission specific applications.
book is admirably illustrated with photos emphasizing www.bdatech.com
individual personnel, as well as key locations and aircraft, and
buttressed with maps of the theaters in which the Pave Lows
flew their missions.

50 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │Summer 2013 www.aircommando.org

 Reunions
Pararescue Reunion 2014
Albuquerque, New Mexico
September 24-28, 2014
Don’t miss this reunion, lots of events and trips planned.
Log onto: www.pjreunion.com for more details and to register.

Surly Bonds
By Michael Byars Lewis
SATCOM Publishing
(September 8, 2012) AC-119 Gunships
$13.49 www.amazon.com San Antonio, Texas
Review by Dennis Barnett, Editor in Chief Sept 26-29
I don’t read a huge amount of novels. However, I must Contact Jerry Hester (210) 663-3159
admit that I was and am hooked on Vince Flynn’s (may he email: [email protected]
RIP) and John Grisham’s works and I was always anxious
to hear that they had published a new thriller. I now have
a new author, Mike Lewis, to follow and we have a lot in
common as Air Commandos. Mike is a second generation TLCB Annual Reunion 2013
Air Commando whose father was tragically killed in Viet Ft Walton Beach, Florida
Nam. Mike is still on active duty as a Lt Col and flies
the AC 130U model gunship. He has over 5000 hours of
October 3-6, 2013
Quality Inn Bayside will be the reunion headquarters this year,
flying time. After reading Surly Bonds it was hard for me so you can stay around and enjoy the ACA Convention/Re-
to believe this is his first novel which is garnering many union right afterwards.
awards.
The book is built around an Air Force Second
Lieutenant, Jason Conrad, struggling to make it through
Pilot Training. Lewis’ recreation of a pilot training scenario
at Vance AFB in Enid, OK, was spot on. He gets inside 2014 FAC “Homecoming” Reunion
the mind of the young student trying his best to meet the Ft Walton Beach, Florida
rigors demanded to earn the silver wings. I must admit that October 22-26, 2014
this part of the book took me back to my own training and Get ready for the second “Mother of all FAC” reunions to be held
created a visceral reaction to the highs, lows, fears and at Ft Walton Beach, FL, 22-26 Oct. 2014. Start making plans
plethora of emotions that were and are unique to the Air now to attend. This reunion will probably be the largest FAC re-
Force pilot training experience. union ever so you don’t want to miss it! For more information go
However, young Conrad is not a typical student. He to the FAC Assoc.
has things in his own recent and distant past that he is Website, www.fac-assoc.org, or contact Claude Newland, Rus-
trying to overcome. Yet, he encounters several classmates tic 19, at 850-654-2955 or [email protected].
The 85+ FACs living in the Ft Walton Beach area are going
that have goals to achieve not related to pilot training, some
all out to make this a memorable event. The target is marked.
with international implications. Lewis takes you through Cleared Hot!
several twists and turns in the plot as well as the loops, The annual Air Commando Assoc. reunion in Ft Walton Beach is
Chandelle’s, spins, and barrel rolls of his training. The being held the weekend before the FAC reunion in 2014 so you
ending is as surprising as the kick in the backside generated may want to combine the two reunions into one trip.
by pushing the throttles to after-burner on your T-38 dollar
ride.
If you are a pilot training graduate or would like to get
an inside view about what that is like, read Surly Bonds. To submit your organization’s reunion information please email
If you like mysteries and thrillers akin to works by Vince the following information to [email protected]
Flynn and John Grisham read Surly Bonds. If you aren’t Please make sure your submissions have:
convinced by my review, go to www.amazon.com/Surly- Event date, event time (if applicable), location, sign up information,
Bonds-Michael-Byars-Lewis/dp/0615663958 and read all point of contact information, and a brief description of what it is.
the great reviews there.

www.aircommando.org Summer 2013 │ Air Commando JOURNAL │ 51

 As my brothers and sisters before me, I am proud to step into history
as a member of the Air Force Special Operations Command. I will walk with
pride with my head held high, my heart and attitude will show my allegiance
to God, country and comrades. When unable to walk another step, I will
walk another mile. With freedom my goal, I will step into destiny with
pride and the Air Force Special Operations Command.