Assault from the Sky by Dick Camp

Author:Dick Camp
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Modern / General
ISBN: 9781612001401
Publisher: Casemate
Published: 2013-08-26T00:00:00+00:00

Two CH-46 helicopters approaching Hill 861 through the smoke screen that had just been laid down by an A-4 fighter bomber. —Dennis Manion

The operation was much more orderly on paper than it actually was in the air however. Weather often created extremely hazardous flight conditions. The skies were overcast more often than not and the helicopters were not always able to use a visual approach. The helicopters flew on instruments to Khe Sanh and then let down through the overcast under control of the AN/TPQ-10 radar or on a self-devised instrument approach guiding on the Khe Sanh radar homing beacon. Once underneath they would pick up their fixed-wing escort. Major Chancey noted in his diary on 2 March, “Lousy weather . . . into inadvertent IFR. What a gaggle! But no mid-air (Don’t know how we missed) . . . I had a badly swinging load (sheer terror) . . . what a way to earn a living!!” The next day it was worse. “Six planes to 881[S] today . . . worst weather in the drop zone yet encountered, all still ran the mission. 881[S] was IFR when we went in, and had to come through a hole South West of the hill, go below the ridge line and scoot up into the zone just over the ground and in the clouds the last 200-300 yards . . . unable to see the drop point and unable to see the A/C ahead for interval.” Another pilot in the squadron agreed. “Sometimes to resupply the hills . . . we would actually slide over the side of the mountain, up through the fog, trying to get up to the top of the outposts. We would drop off the resupply, pick up the medevacs, and slide back down the side until we had visual flight again.”

It often appeared that planes were everywhere . . . and it was well to be reminded of the adage, “Keep your eyes out of the cockpit; a mid-air collision could ruin your whole day.” The lithe A-4s bore in on the flanks of the approach lanes blasting enemy gun positions and spewing protective smoke; CH-46s groped through the haze trying to find the landing zones; the hornet-like UH-1E gunships darted in from the rear in case someone was shot down; and the lone TA-4 circled overhead trying to keep his flock from running amuck. Corporal Thomas J. “TJ” Miller, a crew chief for HMM-364 remembered, “[We] had just pickled [dropping the external load] and I jumped up from the hell hole and looked out the side door to see an A-4 about 50 feet outside our rotor tips. The fixed wing had his gear down, flaps down, and speed brakes deployed. I yelled at the pilot, ‘do not turn right.’ The jet jock had a big smile on his face and gave me a thumbs up. I would have given a couple months flight pay to have a picture of that. Those guys were dead serious about supporting the Marines on the hills.

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