C-130 Hercules

by Martin W Bowman

  AC-130E 69-6573 of the 16th SOS shows the results of a deadly new threat, the man-portable SA-7 surface-to-air missile, which on 13 May 1972 hit the tail just above the ramp on the port side and fragments punched large holes on the starboard side. Ken Felty was injured in this missile strike and the aircraft landed safely. It was repaired and returned to combat for the Easter Offensive in Viêtnam. [Ken Felty]

  At 1103 Seventh Air Force reported that the ‘Carolina Moon’ C-130E (64-0511) was missing. The members of the diversionary strike (call sign ‘Neon’) reported that they had witnessed heavy anti-aircraft fire in the vicinity of the Thanh Hòa Bridge at around 0200 during their mission, followed by a large ground flash. The ‘Carolina Moon’ C-130E was never heard from again, but it was unofficially believed that it had arrived in the target area and had been shot down. The official time of loss was set at 1812 on 31 May. Seventh Air Force reported that ‘Carolina Moon’ had concluded on 1 June following the loss of one of the aircraft and its crew. Interrogation of a North Việtnam torpedo boat crewman some time later reportedly contained information about the first ‘Carolina Moon’ mission. The individual reportedly admitted to having seen a US aircraft drop five objects into the river near the Thanh Hòa Bridge and that four of the five devices had detonated. In April 1986 and February 1987 the remains of Case and two of his crew were returned to the US. Herrold and Ragland are among the 2,303 Americans still listed as ‘unaccounted for’ in South-East Asia.

  By 1967 almost 700 sorties had been flown against the bridge, at a cost of 104 crewmen shot down over an area 75 square miles around the ‘Dragon’. In March that year the US Navy attacked the charmed bridge with new ‘Walleye’ missiles but failed to knock out the structure despite three direct hits. The spans were finally brought down on 13 May 1972 by laser-guided ‘smart’ bombs dropped by F-4Ds of the 8th TFW. Unfortunately, by then the Communists had built several other back-up routes around the bridge and so the flow of supplies across the Ma River was not seriously affected.

  From 1968, under Project ‘Commando Vault’, C-130s were used to drop 5-ton (10,000lb) M-121 and 7.5-ton (15,000lb) BLU-82 - Bomb Live Unit - weapons to blast out helicopter landing zones about 260 feet in diameter in jungle areas. Air Force Systems Command and the US Army cooperated closely to develop a method whereby these large bombs could be dropped from both the C-130 and the US Army CH-54 Tarhe helicopter (after an 18th-century chief of the Wyandot Indian tribe whose nickname was ‘The Crane’). The ‘Big Blue’ was first dropped operationally from a Hercules on 23 March using a delivery technique similar to that used to unleash the M-120, though a ‘daisy cutter’ fuse-extending rod ensured that the block-buster detonated at a height of 4 feet above the ground. The first tests involving both types of aircraft proved so successful that late in 1968 operational deployment in South-East Asia took place, the Hercules ‘bomber’ being assigned to the 463rd Tactical Airlift Wing. In Việtnam, approach to the designated release point was made easier by using signals from the MSQ-77 ground radar sites.

  The Hercules could carry two palletized weapons in the hold and given that a single M-121 bomb was capable of clearing an area about 200 feet in diameter, more than enough for a helicopter to land safely, the C-130A and C-130E therefore had the advantage over the C-54, being able to create two clearings per mission and over greater distances. Invariably, Hercules bomb delivery was made by the parachute extraction method described earlier, usually from about 7,000 feet; stabilizing parachutes were deployed to lower the weapons to the ground. After a lull in operations during the winter months, the 463rd TAW resumed ‘Commando Vault’ operations in March.

  C-130s often operated from rough and ready airstrips during the war in SE Asia.

  A series of military operations were conducted in eastern Cambodia by the US and the Republic of Việtnam from 29 April to 22 July 1970. Thirteen major operations were conducted during the Cambodian Campaign (also known as the Cambodian Incursion) by the ARVN and US forces between 1 May and 30 June. After the Incursion, in which 463rd Wing crews played a large role, President Richard Nixon began withdrawing troops from South Việtnam as he had promised during the 1968 presidential campaign. Several C-130 units were slated for deactivation, including the 463rd. The 29th TAS was the first to go; it deactivated in August 1970 and its personnel transferred to the other squadrons. The 463rd Wing survived for another year. The wing inactivated on 31 December 1971. The 774th Tactical Airlift Squadron remained active at Clark until mid-1972.

  By spring 1970 there were more than 450 American PoWs in North Việtnam and another 970 American servicemen who were missing in action. Some of the PoWs had been imprisoned over 2,000 days, longer than any serviceman had ever spent in captivity in any war in America’s history. Furthermore, Intelligence reports told of appalling conditions, brutality, torture and even death. In May reconnaissance photographs revealed the existence of two prison camps west of Hànôi. At Son Tây, 23 miles from Hànôi, one photograph identified a large ‘K’ - a code for ‘come get us; drawn in the dirt. at the other camp at Ấp Lò Vôi about thirty miles west of Hànôi another photo showed the letters ‘SAR’ (Search and Rescue), apparently spelled out by prisoners’ laundry and an arrow with the number ‘8’. Reconnaissance photos taken by SR-71 aircraft revealed that Son Tây ‘was active’. The camp itself was open and surrounded by rice paddies. In close proximity was the 12th NVA Regiment totalling about 12,000 troops. Also nearby was an artillery school, a supply depot and an air defence installation. Five hundred yards further south was another compound called the ‘secondary school’ which was an administration centre, housing 45 guards. To make matters worse, Phúc Yên AB in Vĩnh Phúc Province was only twenty miles northeast of Son Tây. The heavy monsoon downpours prohibited the raid until finally, November was selected because the moon would be high enough over the horizon for good visibility but low enough to obscure the enemy’s vision.

  A USAF C-130B in the 774th TAS, 463rd TAW offloading supplies in Việtnam.

  Twenty-four primary and five backup crew personnel, all ‘Stray Goose’/’Combat Spear’ veterans detached from 7th SOS (‘Combat Arrow’) and 1st SOW (‘Combat Knife’) developed helicopter-fixed wing formation procedures for low level night missions and jointly trained with selected Special Forces volunteers at Eglin AFB. Between the end of August and 28 September ‘Talon’, helicopter and A-1 Skyraider crews supervised by ‘Combat Talon’ Programme Manager Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin N. Kraljev rehearsed the flight profile in terrain-following missions over southern Alabama, flying 368 sorties that totalled more than 1,000 hours. A month of intensive joint training with the Special Forces rescue force followed at a replica of the prison camp. In early November the task force deployed to Takhli RTAF Base, Thailand.

  The 24 primary crew members, a 7th SOS MC-130 ‘Combat Talon’ crew (‘Cherry 01’) under Major Irl L. ‘Leon’ Franklin and a 1st SOW crew (‘Cherry 02’) commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Albert P. ‘Friday’ Blosch, conducted the mission. John Gargus5 participated in the air operations planning for the Son Tây raid and then flew as the lead navigator of ‘Cherry 02’ that led three ‘Jolly Greens’ on the mission (‘Cherry 02’ led another three - a total of one HH-3 ‘Banana’ and five ‘Apple’ HH-53s). In total, 116 aircraft from seven airbases and three aircraft carriers comprised the total force under the command of Brigadier General LeRoy J. Manor. The air element (primary force) included five HH-53s, one HH-3, two MC-130 Combat Talons and five A-1Es.

  Dr. Joe Cataldo issued sleeping pills. At 2200 hours the men boarded a C-130 and left Takhli for Udorn where helicopters were waiting. Upon landing at Udorn the men transferred to three of the helicopters, carefully rechecking all the equipment that had been deemed necessary for the mission that lay ahead. At 2318 hours the first helo launched; at 2325 hours the last helo launched. They were led by two HC-130 refuellers en-route to an air refuelling area over Northern Laos. Bill Kornitzer, Aircraft Commander of the lead HC-130, ‘Lime One’ recalls
‘Our mission was to launch from Udorn, join up with the six helicopters and lead them to the North Việtnam border. After joining up we refuelled the five HH-53s and the HH-3. This was done in total silence without any incidents. The HH-3 stayed close behind our left wing in order to maintain the speed required by the rest of formation. After leaving the helicopters for their final assault, we immediately returned to Udorn for refuelling. We were to refuel as soon as possible and return to the Northern Laos area to provide air refuelling and search and rescue support as needed.’

  C-130A-45-LM 57-0460 of the South Việtnamese Air Force at Tân Sơn Nhứt near Sàigòn in 1972. The aircraft served with the VNAF from October 1972 to April 1975. During the fall of Sàigòn, it was flown from Tân Sơn Nhứt Air Base to Singapore, carrying about 350 Việtnamese. Returning to USAF service in August 1975 it was assigned to the 16th Special Operations Squadron (SOS) at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base; then used by the USAF Air National Guard for many years before being retired in 1989. Today this aircraft is part of the National Air and Space Museum, given its historic past.

  Final evacuation of the Khê Sanh base complex on 1 July 1968. North Viêtnamese gunners, who were controlled by always-moving ridge top observers, rarely missed hitting something or someone, with every salvo fired. So the 26th Marines lived like prairie dogs, in and out of their vast colony of bunkers. On tough days five or six 122mm rockets hurtled in every minute. It took a special sort of man to stand quietly during such an attack while guiding other men to cover.

  On board ‘Apple Two’, Jay Stayer recalls: ‘Just as we had practiced, the formation lead HC-130P refueller aircraft, ‘Lime One’, got off on time, as did the rest of us, the HH-3 ‘Banana’ and five ‘Apple’ HH-53s. We routinely fell into the seven ship formation, three helicopters stacking high on each side of the leading HC-130 at about 1,500 feet AGL. There was a partial moon and some clouds that we climbed through, when suddenly the call came to ‘break, ‘break, ‘break!’, indicating that someone had lost sight of the formation lead and we were to execute the formation break-up procedure. Each helicopter turned to a predetermined heading and climbed to a predetermined altitude for one minute and then returned to the original landing. The effect was a very widely separated formation, each helicopter 500 feet above the other and at varying distances away from the lead HC-130. I could see other members of the formation flying in and out of the clouds and I thought we had blown the mission we had hardly started. Apparently a strange plane had almost flown through the formation and someone had called the lost contact procedure to avoid a mid-air collision. As it turned out, planning for such possible events and the training for such resulted in a rather routine formation break and with a subsequent rejoin being completed successfully. In the meantime, we had all topped off our fuel tanks from the lead HC-130 and had quite deftly exchanged formation leads from him to the just-arrived, blacked-out C-130 with all the fancy electronic gear.’

  Happily, the weather in the refuelling area was clear. All refuellings were accomplished without difficulty. All six helos then joined formation with an MC-130 Combat Talon for the low altitude flight toward North Việtnam. The area over Laos is a mountainous area requiring precise navigation by the MC-130 crew.

  In the meantime the five A-1s had departed Nakhon Phanom and joined formation with the second MC-130 Combat Talon. This formation was in close proximity of the MC-130/helo flight. All were en-route at low altitude for Son Tay. Close air support was the job of the A-1s because they were ideally suited. They had long endurance capability, carried a big load of ordnance and their relatively low speed permitted small orbits which would keep them close by overhead should assistance be needed on short notice.

  Ten F-4s had taken off from Ubon to provide a MiG air patrol and five F-105 Wild Weasels had launched from Korat to provide protection from the SAM sites. The F-4s and F-105s would be flying at a high altitude providing cover over the general area and would not interfere in any way with the primary force.

  The Navy force launched on time with a total of 59 sorties. As the primary force reached the Laos/North Việtnam border, the enemy radar’s became aware of the Navy force coming from over the Tonkin Gulf. The diversionary raid was having the desired effects. The presence of the Navy on enemy radar caused near panic conditions within the North Việtnamese defence centres. It became obvious that the North Việtnamese total concern was directed eastward. the raiding force, coming from the west, in effect had a free ride.

  Meanwhile, in ‘Apple Two’, as Jay Strayer vividly remembers - ‘Tension was building up by this time, as we neared the IP for the final approach to the camp. I had done most of the flying up to this point and Jack Allison took over the controls for the final phase. I in turn picked up the navigation duties during this critical phase of the mission. As we had rehearsed so many times, the lead C-130 led us over the last mountain range and down to 500 feet above the ground. At the IP they, along with ‘Apple Four’ and ‘Five’ popped up to 1,500 feet to fly directly for the camp. A single radio transmission with the last vector heading to the camp was made by the C-130’s navigator and we continued on, maintaining a disciplined radio silence. Now we were only four - ‘Apple Three’ in the lead with the HH-3, ‘Apple’s One’ and ‘Two’ following in trail, with 45-second separations between.’

  Upon reaching the IP (Initial Point) the MC-130 climbed to 1,500 feet. The 130’s mission at this point was to drop flares over the prison. Helos 4 and 5 were to provide a backup and were to drop flares should the C-130 flares not be effective. The flares worked as intended. The helos made a left turn and proceeded to a pre-selected landing area which was on an island in a large lake. There they would wait, hopefully to be called to move to Son Tay to pick up some PoWs. The C-130 made a right turn and dropped fire fight simulators (deception) and napalm to create a fire as an anchor point for the A-1s. The C-130 then left the area for an orbit point over Northern Laos. Immediately after the flares illuminated the prison compound HH-53 ‘Apple Three’, under the command of Marty Donohue, flew low over the prison firing at the guard towers with his Gatling machine guns. The plan called for neutralizing the guard towers to eliminate that potential source of enemy opposition. Immediately following Donohue’s pass the HH-3, carrying a 14-man assault force, landed in a relatively small space inside the prison walls. So far all was going strictly according to plan and precisely on time.

  The landing was a hard one, but successful. Simultaneous with the landing of the assault force, HH-53s ‘Apple One’ and ‘Two’ were landed opposite the south side and immediately fanned out and conducted a search of all the buildings in search of Americans and to prevent reinforcements from interfering in any way with the rescue effort. Warner Britton in ‘Apple One’ saw the flares dropped by the C-130 ignite and was impressed by the surrealistic appearance of the illuminated landscape. Jack Allison, in the holding area, recalls - ‘Sitting in the holding area waiting to be recalled to pick up the PoWs and ground forces, ‘Apple’ flight was treated to a spectacular fireworks display. Fourteen to sixteen SAMs were fired at the F-105 ‘Wild Weasel’ aircraft, although one was at such a low angle, one of the departing helicopters took evasive action. One SAM was observed to explode and spray fuel over ‘Firebird Three’. The aircraft descended in a ball of fire and appeared to be a loss. However the fire blew out and the crew continued with the mission. Another SAM exploded near ‘Firebird Five’, inflicting damage to his flight controls and fuel system. The crew later bailed out over the Plaine des Jarres and were picked up at first light by ‘Apple Four’ and ‘Five’.

  While all the helicopters were engaged with the compound and A-1s, which had arrived with the second C-130, were ‘doing their thing’. The entire camp was searched. All North Việtnamese forces were annihilated and the devastatingly disappointing discovery was made that there were no Americans at the camp. The coded message ‘Negative Items’ - was transmitted to Brigadier General Manor’s command post at Udorn. Manor met a dejected
force of raiders. ‘They were disappointed because our hopes of returning with POWs were dashed. We had failed. This thoroughly dedicated group expressed the belief we should return the next night and search for the POWs. For many reasons, this could not be done.’

  Prior to the raid all 65 prisoners had been moved to another camp at Đồng Hới about fifteen miles east of Sơn Tây, apparently due to the proximity of the camp to a river thought likely to flood.6

  In the spring of 1970 Alan Baker transitioned from C-141 co-pilot to C-130 aircraft commander and arrived at CCK’s 776th Tactical Airlift Squadron in the summer. ‘Việtnam lacked maintenance facilities so the C-130 airplanes and crews were officially stationed in Taiwan at Ching Chuang Kang Air Base [formerly Kung Kuan Air Base] or CCK as it was more popularly known; and Clark AB in the Philippines. I was 24 years old and I’d just been promoted to captain. I was eager to start flying in Việtnam and was simultaneously scared shitless. At boondock airfields C-130s were considered ‘mortar magnets’ because they made such a nice target for bad guys with mortars outside the perimeter fence. GI’s liked getting mail and supplies, but did not like the mortar rounds we attracted.

  He wrote hundreds of letters to his thengirlfriend Gloria. ‘On 5 August I flew on the last leg of the day; a pax (passenger) run from Đà Nẵng to Tân Sơn Nhứt. As I was starting the #4 engine, the starter button didn’t pop out at 70% like it was supposed to. So I pulled it out at 72% to make sure that the starter disengaged. (If the starter remained engaged until the engine reached full speed it would probably fly apart - don’t want that.) So we shut the other engines down, deplaned our pax and the engineer spent about an hour removing the starter shaft. We buttoned everything up, cranked the three good engines and taxied out for a ‘windmill’ taxi start. Using those three good engines I accelerated down the runway to 100 knots then crammed on the brakes (fortunately Đà Nẵng had a nice long runway). The 100-knot airflow got the prop of the dead engine turning enough for the engine to sustain itself - sort of an air start on the runway. I taxied back in, picked up our pax with all four engines running, got a crew duty day extension and leaped off for TSN. Piece of cake. I wonder what the pax thought of all this it was probably not a confidence-builder.