On Sat, 08 Mar 2008 01:32:37 -0500, Roger
wrote:

On Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:18:39 -0600, Big John
wrote:

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So john, tell us about some of your sorties in Nam. I would also like
to hear some of the R&R stories as well.

Wil


************************************************ ******************

Will

Nam was very much like other conflict/wars.

Lost some close friends and acquaintances.
Killed enemy.
Got shot at.

I was in the FAC business. Besides being Director of II DASC flew a
combat sortie on average of every other day when I had paper work
done.

I lost two of my pilotsout of about 35 during my tour.

First was buzzing returning from mission and ran into a tree top
killing him and the ARVN observer.

Other was in mountainous terrain and a high wind that day. Just never
came back and never found. Best guess was that he got trapped in a
canyon and with wind and mountain gusts couldn't get turned around????

My order of best close air support fighters 'in country'.

Spooky's in a class by them selves.

My cousin played bait/target in the little Bell 47s.
He also flew Hueys (with guns on skids). Took in a bunch of troops,
came under fire. Used Huey to block fire and took out enemy. Huey went
down and burned with all on board. He didn't get out. Had Silver Star
waiting from previous mission that he never knew he earned.

It was written up on popasmoke. There used to be quite a story there,
but I see they just have the essentials now..
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

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Roger

Sorry to hear about your cousin.

There were a lot of Choppers getting shot up and down lifting troops
into hot LZ's. They came to the Air Force in my Corps and asked us to
prep the LZ just before arrival of the troops in the choppers.

After the troops landed and made it into the tree line, we (Air Force)
would turn the CAS over to the Gun Ships. Our FAC would stay in area
and contact with ground commander for a while to see what developed
and if things got too hot for the Gun Ships we brought some fast
movers back to provide heavy support.

After this change in tactics it became rare for troops to go into a
hot LZ.

Big John