A happy ending makes my day

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In July of 1971, I returned to Southeast Asia for my second tour.  My first tour had been as a pilot assigned to the 12th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 18th Tactical Fighter Wing on Okinawa.  From early 1965 until the end of 1966, my flying had been either with the 12th TFS on a squadron deployment to Korat Air Base Thailand or on an individual temporary duty assignment to the 388 TFW at Korat.  Both wings were flying the F-105 aircraft and our mission was to take the war to North Vietnam mostly in an interdiction role.  In 1967 I rotated back to the States and spent 4 years at Headquarters Tactical Air Command at Langley AFB.

In 1971 I went back to Bien Hoa Air Base in South Vietnam as a member of the 8th Special Operation Squadron to fly the A-37 Dragonfly in a close air support role.  The 8th SOS used two call signs to identify the squadron,  "Rap" was the call sign for the daily missions that came down from 7th Air Force and "Hawk" was the standing call sign for the  aircraft sitting in Alert Pad revetments out by the runway in a "ready to go" configuration.  The alert aircraft were in an "On Call" posture to respond to immediate emergencies, most often at the request of a Forward Air Controller.

Typically, eight aircraft were assigned to the alert pad and they were load with pre-designated weapons configurations.  When scrambled they launched in pairs.  Hawk 1, 3, 5, and 7 were designated as the flight leader while 2, 4, 6, and 8 were assigned the respective wingman’s position.  On one particular day in the summer of 1971, I was Hawk 4.  The pre-designated ordnance load for Hawk 3 was four 500 pound general purpose bombs, 2 pods of 2.75 rockets and  the 7.62 mm Gatlin Gun. Hawk 4’s load consisted of four 500 pound cans of napalm, 2 pods of rockets and the 7.62 mm gun.

When the launch (scramble) order is given the goal is to be airborne and on the way to the target in five minutes or less.  There is no time to grab your parachute, helmet or any other equipment needed for the flight; therefore, those items are already in the cockpit.  Mission procedures are pre-briefed and etched in your mind.  Pre-takeoff checks have already been accomplished and all switches are preset to the correct position.  All the pilot has to do basically is get in the cockpit, engage the starters and start moving as soon as the engines have sufficient power.  Fastening shoulder harness and latching the seatbelts are done in the interval between pressing the starter buttons and the time the air plane starts moving out of the revetment.  Contact with the control tower is made on the roll.  All other ground traffic is directed to clear to the side to make way for the scrambling aircraft.  There is no stopping on the runway to line up, you simply close and lock the canopy while turning the corner with the throttles already moving to takeoff power and away you go.

The scalp tingling sound of the field telephone was followed by the Alert Pad Duty Officer, shouting, "Scramble Hawk 3".  About 4 minutes later, the two A-37’s of Hawk 3 flight were airborne and receiving instruction from the Combat Operation Center at 7th AF which directed us toward the junction of the Mekong and Tonle Sap Rivers just North of Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia.  Ten minutes or so later we were speaking with the Forward Air Controller (FAC), in his O-2 aircraft, who had requested our assistance.  For the next ten minutes or so, as we flew toward the FAC’s position, he described the target to us, its nature and the scenario.  He also informed us that the Cambodian ground forces were in contact with his back seat observer, an English speaking Cambodian officer in touch with them via FM radio.  He passed on their FM frequency to us and we tuned it in to monitor what might be said.  There was some conversation but mostly in the Cambodian language, which we did not understand, but we kept it tuned in anyway.

It seems that a patrol of friendly Cambodian forces, perhaps 12 or so in number, were making their way up the Tonle Sap in a small patrol boat to investigate reported movement in that area when they came under fire from the west end of a building that was oriented in an east west direction at the north end of a rubber tree farm on the east side of the river.  The friendlies had beached their boat and were taking cover in some marsh grass and bamboo growths some 500 meters west of the building.  The enemy forces inside the structure had sprayed the area in which the friendlies were located with sporadic fire.  Since most of their weapons were in the boat, they were unable to offer resistance or return fire.  Additionally each time they attempted any type of movement, the gunfire from the building intensified. 

Some 25 minutes after engine start, we had the FAC in sight and the target was confirmed.  The objective was to destroy the building and all things inside it or at least keep the enemy occupied long enough for the friendly forces to withdraw to their boat and make a safe escape to get out of gunfire range. 

Hawk 3 and I made a wide sweeping circle around the building to determine our best approach.  As we made our circle, I noted that a frequently traveled road, more like a dirt trail, ran east and west at the north end of the farm.  Located just to the east of the center of the building and north of the road was a very large tree.  About 50 yards or so to the southwest of the tree a path branched off the dirt road and went some 100 yards up to the center of the building to two large doors that opened from the middle.  I figured that they must be used to bring some of the farm equipment inside the building for storage and maintenance. 

My estimate was that the building was about the size of a football field.  Some rather thick jungle was on the north side of and almost immediately adjacent to the building so a low level approach required for a "napalm" delivery was not possible since the height of the trees obscured the building.  My only option was to make the approach from the south.  Although I did not see any thing that I could identify as an anti-aircraft threat around the building that did not mean that one was not present.  My thought was that if I flew about 5 miles to the south and used the large tree as a reference, I could drop down to just above the tops of the rubber trees and use the tree as a shield until the last moment.

It was normal procedure for the aircraft with the bombs on board to make the first attack on the target from a dive  The explosion and shock from his bombs would confuse and generally disorient the enemy forces and to keep their focus away from the aircraft making the low level attack.  The dive bomb attack heading is generally perpendicular to the path of the bird with the napalm.   I informed Hawk 3 of my planned approach and since his attack would start from around 8,000 feet with a dive angle of some 45 degrees, the jungle would not obscure his view of the target.  He informed me that he would be making a diving attack from the northeast to the southwest.  That was great for me because I would be able to see his entire approach and recovery.

A critical factor was that my low level attack must be timed so that debris from the explosion of his bombs, which would top out at around 3,000 feet, would have time to settle back down to earth before my low level pass over the target.  Although there are no published intervals, I felt comfortable with 90 seconds.

I was starting a left descending 180 degree turn to final approach about 5 miles south of the target when I heard Hawk 3 call out that he had released his bombs.  I glanced back over my left shoulder and saw the explosion from his bombs.  One hit on the edge of the jungle just behind the east end of the building and the other hit about 50 feet from the end, extremely accurate for a manual delivery.  The timing was right on, because by the time I completed my turn to final approach and made a 5 mile run to the target at 350 knots (approximately 600 feet per second) I was well within my 90 second window.  I leveled my wings and dropped down to about 50 feet above the tree tops, and said to Hawk 3, "Good work buddy, that should keep their cages rattling for a while."

I could not see the building initially as I lined up on the large tree at the north end of the farm, so about 15 seconds away I made a quick jog the left and then almost immediately corrected back to the right.  I had increased my altitude to approximately 300 feet.  When I rolled wings level after the right turn, the building was directly in front of me and the double doors looked almost large enough to fly through.  I had just enough time to hit the bomb release button two times in rapid succession to release two cans of napalm and make a 5 g pull up into about a 60 degree climbing right turn to avoid the trees on the edge of the jungle.  At around 2500 feet I made a sharp turn back to the left and dropped the nose of the aircraft and looked quickly back over my left shoulder to see what damage had been done. 

My heart sank, although I had dropped two cans, I could only see one explosion and it was in the edge of the jungle about 50 feet from the north side of the building.  I remember cursing the lowest bidder and inflicting some non-complimentary words on my self about my accuracy.  One of the cans had obviously been a dud and the other had totally missed the building.  Now I have to go out there and repeat that approach again and this time I would not have any element of surprise and I would have to expose myself to a hornets nest because I could not afford to hide behind the tree.  I would have to keep the building in sight for the entire run and they would be expecting me.

I was setting up for a second pass and Hawk 3 was getting into position for his second dive bomb run on the target, and the target structure had disappeared behind my left wing when all hell broke loose on the FM frequency.  It sounded to me like the cheering at a soccer match after the favorite team had scored a goal and I heard someone with a foreign accent yell "Sheet Hot".  That was followed by the FAC coming back with "Sierra Hotel, take a look at that."  I made a quick turn back toward the target and saw the entire building being blown to bits from secondary explosions.  It seems that the can of napalm that I thought was a dud had gone directly through the double doors and exploded on the inside.  The building was being used as a logistics support station and for ammunition storage.  The time was about 1045 and subsequent reports stated that secondary explosions continued until well past noon.

We still had half our weapons load, so the FAC directed us to a secondary target about 20 miles away on the west side of the Mekong and some 10 miles north of the Mekong/Tonle Sap junction.  That was no problem since it was on our way back to Bien Hoa.  Just as I was joining up with Hawk 3, the Cambodian Observer in the FAC aircraft asked us if we could make a flyby over the troops that had been pinned down by the fire coming from the building that was no more.  Who could resist such an invitation? 

We made a north to south run down the east side of the Tonle Sap at about 100 feet.  We could see the troops standing waving their arms and giving us high signs.  We rocked our wings back and forth as we passed them to acknowledge their presence and pulled up into a slight climb and did three or four aileron rolls as we departed.  They were still cheering and yelling "Sheet Hot" when we turned off our FM radios and headed for our secondary target. 

We landed back at Bien Hoa at around 1130.  It was the third mission since 0600 for Hawk 3 and me.  Seventh AF regulations prevented us from flying anymore that day.  It was just as well because our sweaty flying suits were beginning to smell like goat skins.  We debriefed and went back to our quarters where we cleaned up and had lunch.  Later back in the Rap lounge, we refreshed our selves with a couple of Mai Tai’s and rehashed the events of the day.  We talked about how our team effort had worked with precision and recalled how happy those guys looked standing up in the marsh grass.

Tomorrow would be another day at the office, but for the moment 'some things really make you feel good'.

JC
"Thud 241"

Epilogue: Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) from ground forces stated that the building was completely burned to the ground and several armored vehicles were destroyed as well.  It was estimated that the enemy forces in the building numbered around 25.